Marketing Tactics: Consumers & Marketers Warming Up to Coupons

December 4, 2008 by anne

Faced with higher prices on everything from groceries to gas, shoppers have known for several months what the government officially conceded this week: the

U.S. economy is in a recession.

In an environment where budgets and jobs are being slashed, establishing ROI takes on an increased urgency. No surprise that even the lowly coupon is enjoying a resurgence in with consumers, even with those one might think would be least likely to use them.

Comscore blogger Gian Fulgoni posts that growth in unique visits to coupon sites is up 25% and 37% for households earning $40k-$99,999 and $100k+ respectively Q3 2008 versus a year ago. In comparison, coupon usage among households earning less than $39k has risen just 16%.

There’s no clear reason that growth among visits to coupon sites is up higher among mid-to-upper income households, but Fulgoni points out that the good news for marketers is that the greatest growth in increased visits to online coupon sites is “in the mid-to-upper income households where substantial purchasing power resides.” Also it’s easy to measure the success of couponing.

I’ve known many marketers who wouldn’t even consider the use of a couponing campaign.. With all the options available---from newspaper and magazine coupons, free-standing inserts, flyers, online coupon sites, email campaigns, direct mail, register tapes, even gas pumps---and evidence that coupons appeal to a wide range of consumers, it might just be time for marketers to shelve those stereotypes and consider incorporating a coupon promotion in their marketing plan.