Coupons.com Sees More than $1 Billion in Shopper Savings So Far in 2010
Online coupon platform Coupons.com has announced that users of its digital coupons, either via discount offers printed off the web or linked automatically to a loyalty card, racked up $1 billion in savings between January and the end of October 2010.
That’s the first time coupons.com users have earned $1 billion in a calendar year—much less in the first nine months of that year.
“Today represents a significant milestone for the digital coupon industry, “ coupons.com inc. CEO Steven Boal said in a release. “One billion dollars in printed digital savings in less than a calendar year. It’s a first for our company, and a first for the entire digital coupons industry.”
The company reported that savings from offers presented both on the Coupons.com Web site and through the Coupons.com network of digital affiliates—including savings automatically loaded onto store or supermarket loyalty cards by registered Coupons.com users– amounted to more than $854 million during the first nine months of 2010. That’s an increase of 57% over the $543 million in savings that users earned during the same period last year.
By contrast, the company points out, savings from print coupons carried in newspapers and FSIs showed only 11% year-over-year growth in the first three quarters of 2010. Paper coupons still account for the bulk of coupons redeemed in the U.S.. A January 2010 study by clearinghouse Inmar Inc. found that digital coupons make up 1.5% of total U.S. redemptions. But the paper-based offers are undoubtedly being surpassed in growth by the digital version.
For the month of October 2010, coupons.com reported that printed savings from its online coupons represented 4128 million, the highest monthly total in the company’s 12-year history.
Coupons.com attributes strong growth in consumer user of digital coupons to several factors, including the popularity of mobile coupons and a growing trend toward save-to-store-loyalty-card processes at major grocers and retailers around the country.
“We expect increased year-over-year growth during the last 45 days of the year, as brands take advantage of the inherent fast-turn nature of digital coupons, which can be used to maximize their year-end budgets,” Boal said.
As for where consumers were deploying those savings from digital coupons, the company reported the top digital-coupon categories in the first three quarters of 2010 were ready-to-eat cereal, yogurt and refrigerated dough in the win/place/show spots. After that, in descending order, came portable snacks, vegetables, baby needs, soup, nutritious snacks, lunch meats and cheese.
Last September, Web monitor Nielsen judged Coupons.com counts the leading Web site in the coupons/rewards category and the 61st largest Web site in the U.S. In addition to the Coupons.com site, the company runs the Grocery iQ shopping-list app for smartphones.
