The World Is A Better Place Because of Coupons;
After declining for more than a decade, use of coupon rose sharply in October 2008 as the economy collapsed, and it soared 27% in 2009, according to the marketing firm Inmar. With unemployment still high and consumers still jittery, couponing has not dropped during the recovery, holding steady at 3.3 billion redemptions last year, which 2.1 billion was for food alone.
After declining for more than a decade, use of coupon rose sharply in October 2008 as the economy collapsed, and it soared 27% in 2009, according to the marketing firm Inmar. With unemployment still high and consumers still jittery, couponing has not dropped during the recovery, holding steady at 3.3 billion redemptions last year, which 2.1 billion was for food alone.
The stigma of couponing as a downscale activity is fading. In fact, the primary drivers of coupon growth are affluent households with an
income of $100,000 and higher, and its the women who do most of the shopping in American families in the first place, who are leading the charge.
income of $100,000 and higher, and its the women who do most of the shopping in American families in the first place, who are leading the charge.
While rabid couponers who score $1,000 worth of free groceries are a small and at times ridiculed minority, they have inspired the rest of us to wonder why we can't shave 25% to 50% from our weekly spending for food, household cleaners, and the likes to put toward retirement or college. And companies like Groupon, a company that started about 2½-years ago, has skyrocketed to $760 million in sales last year, and have managed to turn couponing into a hip social-networking experience.
A big spike came when Extreme Couponing began airing. If people ever were embarrassed about couponing, they're not anymore, They see people on TV saving money and say, 'Okay, I can do that.