Digital Receipts Network

Trends in Consumer Couponing

NEW YORK , March 31^st , 2009

Platform-A's Business Intelligence organization, in partnership with Information Resources, Inc. has released the results of a new study on trends in consumer couponing with interesting results. Based on input from more than 36,000 IRI panelists gathered in September, 2008, the study gauged consumer usage of traditional newspaper coupons and interest in digitally distributed online coupons.

The research comes at a critical juncture, when American families are extremely value-focused and eager to stretch their buying power, yet newspaper circulation (and thus the traditional vehicle for coupons) is in steep decline. "This data highlights a number of trends that are converging to make online couponing an appealing option for CPG manufacturers," says Mark Ellis, Senior Vice-President, AOL / Platform-A. "We have an economy that makes coupons much more relevant to the average consumer, a rising generation of families totally at home with the Internet, and an overall decline of the newspaper and its Sunday circular distribution. There's clearly a huge window of opportunity here."

The study reports that more than 90 million consumers (78% of retail shoppers) currently use newspaper coupons, with nearly one out of every four of the newspaper coupon clippers likely to be at least 65 years old. It also revealed that nearly four out of every 10 shoppers - a total of 40 million consumers - would be very likely to use coupons accessed online. Not surprisingly, the younger the consumer, the more comfortable they were with the idea of accessing coupons online:

The youngest market segments are the most receptive to online coupon offers, with 51% of 18-24 year-old shoppers indicating that they would be very likely to use coupons presented to them online. While historically ambivalent to traditional coupons, younger couples are the most likely life-stage group to use online coupons, indicating an opportunity to influence product choices within this segment. Young couples without children are among the respondents most likely to use a coupon they found online, followed by shoppers with younger children. Value-focused promotion is clearly the strategy of choice right now in the CPG market, evident in the fact that eight out of Platform-A's top 10 CPG clients use value-based messaging in their online advertising.

"What's particularly remarkable about the study results is how open young people are to the idea of using coupons online - even though clipping coupons from the newspaper really hasn't been their thing," adds J. P. Beauchamp, senior vice president, IRI Consumer & Shopper Insights. "I think we'll be seeing CPG manufacturers jumping on this trend - using online coupons to court a new generation of consumers and build loyalty during these cost-conscious times."