Online Couponing -- On The Rise?

For decades coupons have been in use in paper format to receive discounts on items available at a big box or grocery store. In light of the Great Recession, coupons have risen in use as salaries have decreased or jobs have been lost. The increase in coupon use has even become a new television show on TLC called "Extreme Couponing". Check out a clip below!

Viral coupons and coupon websites like Groupon, Kijiji Deals, Deal Find and more offer great deals daily to customers who have joined their free services. A company will post a discounted service or item and after so many people have expressed an interest and paid the discounted price, the coupon is activated.

Coupon Usage Statistics:

• Website visits to Groupon, Living Social, Deal Find and others were up 110% in October 2011 versus the previous year (Alter)
• Groupon has more than 142 million subscribers in 500-plus markets (Alter)
• In September, 1 million LivingSocial subscribers purchased 80 deals/second (Alter)
• LivingSocial has 34 million members in the US and 46 million worldwide with 22 million coupon purchases (LivingSocial)
• Close to 80% of deal users were new customers, “significantly fewer users spent beyond the deal’s value or returned to purchase at full price.” (Alter)
• 22% of daily-deal buyers never redeem the vouchers they've bought (Alter)
• 1 in 10 customers will buy holiday gifts at either Groupon or LivingSocial this year, up from 4% from 2010 (Weigley)
• Out of 1000 respondents surveyed, the most popular deals were entertainment and event tickets (34%), electronics (27%), clothing (26%) and dining deals (25%) (Lightspeed Research)
• Mobile couponing will exceed $43 billion globally by 2016 (Internet Retailer)

Canadian Statistics:

• In a 2010 study by comScore, Canada ranked 7th in a list of countries using coupons, with 0.9% of people; the US ranked 1st with 6.3% (eMarketer - UWO login required)
• In a bid to stay competitive, Rogers Media is developing a similar online couponing service to offer Canadians deals nationally and locally (Vlessing)

Related Articles:

• Alter, Cathy. What’s the Deal with Daily Deals? Washingtonian. November 28, 2011.
• Reisinger, Don. Groupon shares fall off a cliff, down 42 percent since IPO. CNET. November 29, 2011.
• Vlessing, Etan. Rogers Media Takes On Groupon in Canada. Hollywood Reporter. November 29, 2011.
• Weigley, Samuel. Groupon, LivingSocial Clamor For Piece of Holiday Sales Action. November 28, 2011.