Files
Abstract
Despite the savings they represent, coupon redemptions have been declining since the early 1990s
(NCH Marketing, 2003). To stem this decline and to increase the effectiveness of their coupon offers,
manufacturers frequently target coupon offers to specific consumer segments by using a variety of
coupon delivery methods. Therefore, the objective of this study is to examine consumers’ attitudes
towards multiple coupon delivery methods to more efficiently and effectively target different consumer
segments using the appropriate coupon vehicles.
A written survey was distributed to supermarket shoppers from three retailers in the Northeast in
eight of their stores. Respondents reported using paper coupons much more frequently than any other
coupon type. Almost 75% of respondents reported using paper coupons regularly (“every time” or
“fairly often”). Conversely, only 7.3% of respondents said that they use online coupons regularly.
Regular users of checkout, in-store, and online coupons were, for the vast majority, subsets of paper
coupon users. This pattern appears to support earlier studies which suggest that certain consumers may
first need to have an underlying tendency to use coupons. Certain segments may then have a tendency to
use specific coupon types over others.
An analysis using logit models suggest that respondent behaviors may be stronger predictors of
regular coupon usership than demographics. Therefore attempting to target types of coupons using
different demographic segments may not be cost effective.
Respondents’ attitudes towards 3 coupon features may give clues as to why consumers respond or do
not respond to offers via different coupon methods. More respondents agreed that paper coupons and
shopper card discounts offer valuable savings rather than checkout, in-store, and online coupons. In
addition, online coupons appear to take too much time to find and use. Overall, shopper cards were
preferred by more respondents than any coupon method.