Coupon Clipping – Hope For Newspapers?

The recession of 2009 saw consumers begin to use more coupons than in recent years, in fact, it was the first increase in 17 years. Shoppers turned to both the newspaper as well as online and cell phone applications to find coupons. Of particular note was online coupon access increased 92% and redemption shot up 360%, although the Internet still accounts for only 1.5% of coupons redeemed, according to a report from Inmar. Despite the rapid rise of online coupons, newspaper inserts still account for 89% of coupons distributed to consumers and more than half of coupon redemption. Web sites accounted for 0.3% of coupons distributed to consumers and 1.5% of redemption. 19.6% of online coupons are redeemed and it is estimated that consumers redeemed a total of 3.3 billion coupons in 2009, a 27% increase from 2.6 billion in 2008.