The coupon industry was started in the mid 1980s when Coca-Cola issued a coupon for one free bottle. Since then most companies are giving coupons and this trend is growing continuously. Coupons are a way to provide consumers with some discount on their purchase. Today, no matter what every buyer looks out for coupons before buying anything online. Below is a detailed description of the coupon industry in U.S.
Starting from 2016, a total of 307 billion coupons distributed throughout the United States while only 200 billion were redeemed. The most popular sources for finding such coupons were websites or apps that aggregate coupons, followed by e-mail newsletter. Other than this, around 64% people frequently redeemed coupons for food at restaurants or brick-and-mortar retail stores.
After this, in 2017 coupons were used more than 2016. The age group 18-39 was more concerned about the coupons than any other age group. The coupons were found most beneficial for digital purchase. On the other hand people aged sixty and more were least concerned about using coupons.
Later on, in 2018 coupons were not used that much. In fact the coupons that were used and redeemed were under 60% which was way too less as compared to the previous years.
So, this was the time when people stopped preferring coupons for any kind of purchase. In 2020, there was a further decrease of about 6% in the usage of coupons. The reason behind this was the pandemic. Since the people were locked inside their houses, they did not need anything other than the essentials. And thus, there was a decrease in the coupon usage.
How big is the coupon industry in the U.S.?
If we talk about the breakdown of the coupons given to the citizens of U.S. this is how it is done-
11% Beverages
3% Entertainment
14% Personal Care
18% Health Care
16% Household
9% Pet Care
28% Foods
1% Other
Coupons are a way to save money and thus the number of mobile coupons redeemed has steadily increased over the past year. The redemption of these coupons is expected to grow exponentially. In the U.S. 1 in every 5 coupons are redeemed every day. And the coupon processing industry is worth over $100 million.
If we talk about the results of providing these coupons; people become loyal to a company if they receive a coupon. More or less there are chances that they will visit a store if they receive one. Coupons are a great way to influence a purchase decision. One is more likely to shop when he receives a coupon that saves his money. Not only this, 55% of the shoppers use their mobile phones to find a coupon while shopping in-store and that shows that people are continuously looking out for ways to save their money. And if you get personal recommendations on coupons, there are chances that you will spend more.
Even when the lockdown norms were waived off, people still chose to shop online due to the fear of the virus. Thus the search for coupons went up. Around 60% of online shoppers in the U.S. stated that getting a discount while making a purchase was now even more important due to COVID-19.With most people losing their jobs, the need to find the best deals has heightened up and it is expected that this graph will rise exponentially.