Over the past few years there hasn’t been a much hotter sector than coupon sites.
Last week we told you the Coupons.com just raised $200 Million giving it a billion dollar valuation and we all know Groupon.com turned down billions from Google to go public later this year, and those are only 2 of many sites dedicated to coupon type offers.
However we are in the worse recession since the great depression and some stats I have been looking at would indicate that when the economy recovers (whenever that will be) people’s use of coupons might greatly decline.
Here are some stories that indicate coupons are tied to the overall economy.
InternetRetailer.com:
The recession prompted consumers to turn to coupons more in 2009 than they did the year before, the first increase in 17 years, according to a new study.
From CouponSherpa.com:
“While the tight economy truly sucks, we’re seeing one big advantage: Many consumers have returned to the frugal ways our grandparents used during the Great Depression. Such practices as re-using plastic bags, limiting or abandoning credit card use, and using coupons to stretch our budgets have become ingrained.”
“In fact, coupon use has grown so monumentally the statistics for 2009 are staggering.
- Coupon use grew to 29 percent, the first annual increase seen since 1992.
- More than 3.3 billion coupons were redeemed in 2009, for a total savings of $858 million.
- Nearly 30 percent of people surveyed by Promo P&I Newsletter in 2009 said they made a special trip to a store to use a coupon.
This trend started in October of 2008 — coinciding with news of the U.S. financial crisis — and led to 15 months of double-digit growth. “””
Lets look back to reports before the recession from 2006 from Couponing.com
“”CMS.com announced that over $331 billion dollars in potential consumer savings were distributed through coupons in 2006 with over 2.6 billion redeemed. This was a decline in both distribution (-12%) and redemption (-13%) from the past year.”
From 2005:
“What is interesting is that the consumer response to coupon promotions fell 6% in 2005 compared to 2004.”
“Consumers redeemed 3 billion coupons compared to 3.2 billion in 2004. ”
According to a study people even admit they use coupons much more during a recession:
From Direct Marketing Canada:
“”A recent US consumer survey by ICOM Information & Communications LP, a Toronto-based marketing consultant and targeted coupon distributor, found that 67% of consumers say they are more likely to redeem a coupon during a recession.”
“Of the 1,529 US consumers participating in the survey, 45 percent said they were much more likely to use more coupons in a recessionary period, and 22 percent said they were somewhat more likely.”
“During the 2001 economic downturn, ICOM’s tracking also showed a significant increase in the number of coupons consumers redeemed each week.”
A” recent US study conducted by Prospectiv of Wakefield, Mass, polled 1,386 consumers and found that 72% are using more coupons than they did six months ago. ”
“Three-quarters of these respondents claimed the economy made them do it. ”
So as the economy improves will coupon usage start declining once again?
And if so the coupon craze might just start dying off just when the economy starts picking up steam.
What are your thoughts?
