SAN FRANCISCO — The wobbly economy is
perking up at least one Internet business:
online coupons.
This winter, 38.6 million Americans will use
online coupons, up 22% from the same period
last year, says Simmons Market Research
Bureau.
Online coupon services such as Coupons.com,
RetailMeNot.com and CoolSavings.com offer
coupon discounts on a range of products from
Nintendo Wii to DVDs to food and toys.
"With the holidays here, the economy
slumping, consumer confidence down and
headlines screaming layoffs, we're seeing
coupon clicks soar," says Steven Boal, CEO
of Coupons Inc., the world's largest
Internet coupon distributor. It has more
than 900 clients, including General Mills,
Kraft Foods and Pillsbury.
In November, more than $50 million in
savings was printed on Coupons.com, more
than double May's total.
Shoppers who use the site save an average of
$40 to $50 a week, or $200 a month, Boal
says.
General Mills, like other large brand names,
is shifting more dollars from traditional
coupons in publications to Internet print
coupons, "because we are reaching younger,
incremental consumers in a quicker and more
cost-efficient way," says Karl Schmidt,
director of promotion marketing for General
Mills.
Coupons.com alone saves consumers an
estimated $485 million annually through
printed coupons redeemed at retailers.
CoolSavings.com — whose business partners
include Pillsbury and Hershey's — says
people visiting its site printed, on
average, 477,843 coupons a month from July
through October, vs. an average of 213,630
coupons monthly in 2007.
"We expect the flood of coupons and other
discounts to grow even stronger next year,"
says Eric Best, CEO of Mercent, which tracks
the average dollar value of discounts
applied to orders.
"I got good deals on golf clubs, clothes and
gifts for my children," says John Hurley,
47, a sales manager in Huntley, Ill.
He uses BradsDeals, a website that monitors
online coupons and deals.
"People are shopping earlier, looking harder
for deals," says John McAteer, head of
retail at Google. "Two years ago, people
thought coupons were dead, that consumers
didn't have the patience to cut and clip
them. But there has been a resurgence."
The rush to coupons has not been overlooked
by cybercrooks.
Computer-security firm Trend Micro says some
cybercrooks have created e-mails with fake
coupons attached that purport to be from
McDonald's and Coca-Cola. But the
attachments contain computer worms.
