Marketing Forecast from Ad-ology

As consumers continue to emphasize value when they are shopping, many are turning to coupons to help reduce the price of items they want. Marketers should know that it’s not just modest or middle-income consumers who use coupons. Nearly 2 out of 3 consumers with household incomes of $100,000+ also look for coupons according to a Coupon.com study. And another study by The Integer Group and M/A/R/C Research indicates that coupon clipping behavior differs by gender.

While the economy is improving, the unemployment rate continues to exceed 9.5% and some experts predict that a healthy employment market may be 4 to 5 year away. News reports like this encourage consumers to continue looking for ways to save money. It’s all about the new thriftiness that many shoppers have embraced. And this thriftiness has led to higher rates of coupon use according to the 2020 NCH Coupon Fact Report, published by Valassis.

The Second Annual Benchmark Survey on Consumer Coupon Behavior, conducted by HarrisInteractive for RetailMeNot, found that consumers are increasingly defining their spending habits by whether or not retailers offer coupons. According to the new survey, 30% of online adults will not make a purchase at an online store if they can’t find a coupon for that store, up from 27% in 2008. The survey also revealed that coupon use in the current economic environment is on the rise across nearly all demographics, but is highest among the employed and educated (college graduated).

For the past several years, most consumers couldn’t be bothered clipping or printing coupons. But the recession seems to have changed all that and coupon use began to rapidly rise in 2008. So will marketers be using more coupons to generate consumer purchases of products and services?

If your vision of coupon clippers conjures up senior citizens sitting at the kitchen table and leafing through newspaper inserts in search of bargains, it’s time for a reality check. Over ¾’s of shoppers continue to use paper coupons but 4 out of 10 shoppers like online coupons. And this includes half of 18 to 24 year olds.

In these tough economic times, more consumers are looking save money when they purchase goods and services. Recent polls indicate where consumers are most like to search for coupons: