Coupons have been used for over a hundred years; C.W. Post, one of the first cereal manufacturers, offered the first coupon that was introduced to consumers in 1895. They caught on very quickly and consumers have been using them ever since.

Every week, millions of people, both men and women clip coupons they receive in the Sunday newspaper. Using coupons can save consumers thousands of dollars on products they’ve purchased throughout the year. In a time when saving money is crucial to almost every consumer, coupon use had more than doubled.

A new craze has popped up called extreme couponing. This is when a consumer uses coupons for the majority of the items they purchase. The rate of users has gone up exponentially over the past few years.

As with the way of the world, someone had to make it ‘bigger and better’ and with consumers using the Internet more often for shopping, digital coupons were created. Digital coupons consist of either a coupon code to be used online or they can be printed to be used in retail stores.

Experts predict that over ninety six million consumers will use digital coupons in 2013 in the United States alone; in some instances, a consumers purchase hundreds of dollars in merchandise and by using the coupons they pay pennies for their overall purchase.

Digital coupon sites can be found all over the Internet; they are popping up in the ‘inbox’ of your email. These sites offer all the benefits of coupons without the hassle of spending half the day clipping them from the newspaper; they offer daily deals that you cannot find anywhere else. They also offer a larger selection of products however it is important to remember that as with paper coupons, digital coupons can be regional.

Retailer’s benefit from digital coupons in a few different ways; if they have an online site, consumers can use them to make purchases, and if consumers are using the printable version, they are more likely to purchase additional items in the store that they do not have coupons for. It is a way for them to draw customers into their store.

Retailers also benefit when it comes to redeeming digital coupons. Almost every offers retailers a certain amount to redeem a coupon; in most cases it is eight cents per coupon. That might not seem like much, however if a retailer submits a coupon for a dollar, that retailer will receive one dollar and eight cents for the coupon. If a hundred coupons are submitted then the retailer receives the sum times the number of coupons submitted.

For small businesses, this may seem like it is not worth it; they have to hire someone to prepare and send the coupons out for redemption and they might get a few hundred dollars however if they track the return over a year’s time, they will find that the return is significant.

Larger companies and national chains receive hundreds of thousands of dollars each year through coupon redemption.

Peter Geisheker is the CEO of The Geisheker Group advertising agency (920) 471-1638. Peter is also the author of an award winning marketing strategies blog found at http://blog.geisheker.com/.

Peter Geisheker is the CEO of the Geisheker Group Advertising Agency (920) 471-1639 http://www.geisheker.com.

Author Bio: Peter Geisheker is the CEO of The Geisheker Group advertising agency (920) 471-1638. Peter is also the author of an award winning marketing strategies blog found at http://blog.geisheker.com/.

Category: Marketing
Keywords: digital coupons,groupon,marketing,advertising,retail marketing,retail advertising