Digital Coupons have now outpaced printed Newspaper based coupons by 10 to 1, according to a new coupon usage report by Coupons.com. The tremendous increase in the uptake of Digital Coupons has led to an increase in the use of coupons in 2009, a first ever such increase in over 19 years.
“For the first time in almost two decades the use of coupons increased in 2009, in part due to the growth of digital coupons as more consumers made them part of their shopping routine and more brands tapped them to engage with their consumers,” said Steven Boal, CEO of Coupons.com. “We expect the adoption of digital coupons will continue to accelerate in 2010 as consumers and brands alike increasingly adopt them, and as we continue to enable companies to engage with their consumers with coupons in innovative ways, including mobile and social media initiatives.”
Coupons.com further reports that it has delivered $858 million in printed savings to businesses and retailers in 2009. This is a 170 percent increase over 2008. Coupons.com believes that the biggest factor influencing this growth is the uptake in digital coupon consumption. Amongst the digital coupons, save to store loyalty cards and mobile coupons were the hottest commodities.
In 2009, around 45 million US consumers used online coupons, which is roughly 20 percent of the US population.
Coupons.com is not the only player in this game, recently Groupon, a Chicago based startup, has raised $30 million from Accel Partners at a $250 million valuation. Living Social is another startup trying to carve a piece of the pie for itself.
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