YES the economy is challenging!
YES expenses are going up
YES people are saving less than in the years past!
Thanks Merrill for stating the obvious!!
What does all that mean? One thing it means, is people are looking for deals! They are looking to buy items on sale and yes they are probably using coupons more than ever. Okay…at least I am! I said it and I am okay with it!
Last week I went to our local grocery store, Tom Thumb, and saved 28% on my order! Yes, I said 28%. I saved the money based on in-store promotions and coupons. I haven’t been doing this forever (which is interesting, considering my mom and sister are really good at it, have been doing it for years and save a tremendous amount week after week). But since I am a rookie and it needs to easy for me to use coupons (meaning that they need to be coupons that I happen to see in the Sunday newspaper, in-store promotions or a coupon that gets mailed to me).
Recently we had a friend in town (thanks for visiting SG) and we got a $50 coupon to visit a restaurant. I must admit I was shocked that the coupon was for $50.00 and had to check the fine print. I did and it was for that amount and very easy to use. Recently I have noticed more “buy one get one free” promotions and I am taking advantage of them–especially if the items are stuff like paper towels and trash bags. I have also noticed that products like cereal and potato chips are running big promotions very often.
Rest assured anytime I will get a $50.00 off coupon at a restaurant it will be used. A week doesn’t go by where I don’t receive coupons in the mail and in our household, they are being used now more than ever!
What about you?
- Are you using coupons more than you have in the past?
- What are some of your tricks of the trade that you can share?
- How much do in-store promotions affect your decision making?
I look forward to reading your comments.
Stephenie Gordon says:
I am like you, I have not used coupons in the past, however, now i find myself drawn to them. Last weekend Whole Foods was offering their customers $10 off their $50 seafood and meat order. We never shop at Whole Foods because it’s a couple of miles further than our Fresh Market, but we made the trip. we decided the extra $2 in gas was worth the $10 off!
Alice Butler says:
Similar to your $50 restaurant coupon, I’ve received two $50 coupons in the past couple of weeks. One was for a Jewelry Store and the other for a Major Appliance Store. Both are simply $50 off your next purchase with no minimum purchase amount. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen that before. One is a store I’ve purchased from before and one I’ve never visited. I plan to visit both and see what I can get for my $50 coupon.
Steve Gentile says:
I love a good deal, which doesn’t always mean the lowest price, necessarily. I am a flyer shopper. mostly with groceries, meaning I cruise the flyer for the store I shop and then compile a list of groceries. I make lists, clip coupons, and then even compare once there. Makes my Scorpio wife crazy, she being a “Need toothpaste, this is what I want – need OJ, this is what I want” and I’m the one saying “But does it HAVE to be QTips or can it be this name brand, which is on sale?” Nope, has to be QTips, and Kleenex, and Tropicana, and Stoneyfield Farm Yogurt.
I love to shop and pick up bottles and cans and read them and compare packaging and notice things like HYDROX IS BACK!!!
With coupons, I do notice that presently, they have expiration dates. In the Clinton Era, – surprise NO EXPIRATION DATE. And I remember this being the case during last recession too, which is how I know we are in recession. ANd I use coupons a lot, shop where they double the value, and often get to try new brands this way, find new favorites.
I also shop at odd times – this business (MR) does encourage that – and the market is a strange place at 2am, which is a whole other blog Merrill (ALiens 6)
But I also like to watch others too, snoop from down the aisle and watch them squeeze, sniff, read, and often taste. And kids, they are supreme in their excitement – like the Eddie Murphy bit “ICE CREAM — ICE CREAM — EVERYBODY WE’RE GETTING ICE CREAM!!!”
I don’t do this ’cause I work in a related business, I work in a related business because I like doing this. I’ve always loved the story of things – thank my grandmom for that, a lover of a good story.
Last shop I d=saved $33.13 on what would have been a $98 bill!
Happy shopping and clipping.
Naomi Walters says:
My husband does 98% of the grocery shopping and I’m trying to convert him to using the coupons as well. What he has noticed is that the sales sound good but the boxes of cereal are now smaller and there is no longer a 5 lb. bag of flour or sugar – they are 4 lbs. So, you still have to watch what you buy as it sounds like a good deal but in essence the packaging has changed. Just as a quick note – back in the late 70′s & early 80′s I saved enough money on coupons and rebates to take both of my daughters on a trip to Honolulu, HI. It took us about 2 -1/2 years but it was worth every bit of the vacation for 10 days!
Merrill Dubrow says:
Steve,
Thanks for your email. Appreciate your comments. Although I don’t recall shopping at 2:00am sounds like it might be a good time to people watch.
Merrill
Laurie says:
I am a huge coupon advocate! Every week I take my 10 inch x 18 inch plastic container filled with labeled categorized envelopes. I have men and women approaching me in awe of my coupon collection.
I have saved anywhere from 10-40% of my order. I have to say it is helpful to do the pre-work looking at the circulars and pulling the coupons prior to going, that is when I get my maximum savings.
Also, Stop and Shop now does self check out which gives you additional non advertised specials, I have gotten a half gallon of ice cream for $1 and this week got laundry detergent for $2.
I am not committed to certain brands, but do have an allegiance to a few items that even if I don’t have a coupon I buy.
Ken Roberts says:
We have converted to mostly ordering groceries online and having them delivered. While you can still take advantage of store specials and BOGO, you can’t use manufacturer coupons. Given the increasing value of manufacturer coupons, it may force us back into the store.
Merrill Dubrow says:
I just read an interesting article (based on a study from Scarborough Research) that I thought I would share. Here are some of the cities where households are most likely to use coupons 2008:
Milwaukee WI………………….40%
Rochester NY…………………..38%
Pittsburgh PA…………………..36%
Columbus, OH………………….36%
Minneapolis MN…………………34%
NY, NY……………………………33%
Merrill
Merrill Dubrow says:
GOOD ARTICLE THAT I THOUGHT I WOULD SHARE…..
Coupon-clipping means big savings
During lean economic times, more shoppers are reaching for coupons to trim their food bills
By BARRY SHLACHTER barry@star-telegram.com
STAR-TELEGRAM/RON T. ENNIS
Gwen Martinez used coupons to reduce her grocery bill from $103.08 to $61.49 while shopping at an Albertsons supermarket in Hurst. STAR-
Gwen Martinez is buying more groceries and health and beauty-care products than ever before — but spending less.
Like a growing number of Americans in this economic downturn, the 29-year-old Martinez is a relatively recent convert to clipping coupons from newspapers and in-store circulars and finding them online.
“I am saving about 69 percent overall,” said the Arlington medical secretary, who began in August after a fellow customer at a Walgreen checkout spontaneously handed over a handful of coupons, immediately saving her $10.
Martinez was hooked, and she’s far from alone.
“Coupon clipping is definitely up,” said Mark Adamcik, 45, an Albertsons store manager with more than two decades with the chain and its predecessor, Skaggs.
“As the economy tightens up, it makes coupons more appealing.”
Get out the scissors
Coupon use rose 15 percent in the last three months of 2008, compared with the same period of 2007, said Charlie Brown, vice president of marketing at NCH, the redemption unit of Livonia, Mich.-based Valassis, which invented the Sunday newspaper coupon sections and owns Red Plum, one of two big coupon companies.
And in a typical year, Americans redeem $3 billion worth of coupons, with fewer and fewer finding themselves too embarrassed to pull out wads of coupons or lug in baseball card albums choked with coupons for breakfast cereal and canned soup.
“There’s less negative stigma attached to coupon use during slower economic times,” said Ron Larson, a marketing professor at Haworth College of Business at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.
A recent survey has borne that out.
Nearly 57 percent of 3,013 consumers surveyed nationwide in December admitted that they were once self-conscious about handing over grocery coupons but no longer care because of the money they’re saving,
according to a study by ICOM Information & Communications, a provider of marketing data. Twenty-two percent said they were still uncomfortable using the coupons.
Forty-three percent said they’ve used coupons more in the past six months, it said.
Manufacturers of brand-name food products, under pressure from supermarket chain’s cheaper private-label items, bought about 5 percent more coupons in the fourth quarter of 2008 to promote their goods at a time when cost-conscious American families are eating more home-prepared meals, said Suzie Brown, chief of marketing at Valassis and no relation to the NCH executive.
Boxes of coupons
On Thursday evening, Martinez entered an Albertsons in Hurst with a shoebox-sized, purple plastic box containing more than a thousand coupons sorted by category, and picked up the weekly store circular with a front-page of more coupons.
Less than 30 minutes later she wheeled her cart toward cashier Cinda Atkins’ checkout lane with $103.08 worth of groceries.
After her coupons were scanned, Martinez said, “This is my favorite part.”
Atkins calls out that the cost was reduced to $61.49 — a savings of $41.59 or slightly more than 40 percent. The customer next in line, who waited patiently as 40 coupons were scanned, shook his head in amazement.
Martinez does even better on health and beauty-care items at two major drug chains, CVS and Walgreen, that brings her monthly average overall savings close to 70 percent.
On Jan. 10, a receipt showed that she paid just $1.05 for $45.45 worth of goods at Walgreen, having combined store coupons providing credits for the entire price of an item with coupons clipped from the newspaper for the same product.
The savings allow her to spend more on food and healthcare goods than before, and to pay down some credit-card bills.
Tricks of the trade
Stephanie Nelson of couponmom.com claims that a family of four can save $100 a week on groceries by clipping coupons. Since 75 percent of grocery coupons come from the Sunday newspaper, she recommends buying two or three copies to save dramatically, then scan the Internet for more.
And some manufacturers are sweetening the deal.
Last year, multiple purchase requirements on health and beauty-care coupons dropped to 6 percent, from 11 percent in 2007. Moreover, expiration dates were lengthened, the average period rising to 2.8 months from 2.6 months, said NCH’s Charlie Brown.
But the opposite was true for grocery coupons, which saw expiration dates reduced to 2.3 months in 2008 from 2.4 the year before. Multiple purchase requirements decreased, but only by a tad, to 35 from 37 percent.
The average value of a coupon distributed today is $1.29, Brown said.
Coupon use and private-label purchases tend to rise during tougher economic times because many people look for ways to save money, said Larson, adding that consumers might also have more time on their hands to clip and sort.
Larson rattled off the grocery coupon’s various effects: They draw attention to a product, lower its price for past buyers and attract new ones, generate consumer “pull” during soft sales periods, remind even nonclippers of the product’s existence, create a marketing synergy benefit when coupled with in-store specials, and they limit growth of private-label competitors.
Hitting home
Despite the manufacturers’ desire to snare a steady buyer with a coupon offer, Martinez says she no longer becomes loyal to a particular brand.
“I’m a sale kind of girl,” she said.
Her grocery cart included a mix of national and private-label brands, including a loaf of Albertsons budget Good Day sandwich loaf.
The Minnesota-born Martinez alternates between Kroger and Albertsons, depending on the weekly specials. Both are convenient on her commuting route between Arlington and North Richland Hills, where she works at North Hills Hospital. And both double and triple the value of many coupons. Typically, the big-box discounters like Wal-Mart and Target discount only the face value.
Although some coupons carry fine print saying they cannot be combined with other offers, she learned from Internet couponing forums that most stores don’t mind.
On Thursday, Albertsons staff said they had no objection if the computerized scanning system accepted them.
“Cheese was a really good deal,” Martinez said.
Combining offers allowed her to apply an in-store flier coupon putting a $5 sale price on three 8-ounce packages of Kraft-brand cheese along with a newspaper coupon and another won in an online contest.
The combination reduced her cost to 50 cents apiece. The usual retail price of an 8-ounce packet at Albertsons is $2.50.
While few supermarkets make much, if anything, on savvy coupon users like Martinez, she wouldn’t be there without the tiny slips of paper.
Before August, most of her groceries were purchased at Sam’s Club.
“But I stopped after I began couponing, and find I get better deals at supermarkets with coupons,” said Martinez, noting that coupons don’t help much in the large bulk quantities at a wholesale club store like Sam’s.
“Frankly, I used to hate grocery shopping,” she went on. “It was my most dreaded chore until I started coupon-clipping.
“Now it’s an adventure and a challenge.”
——————————————————————————–
Gwen Martinez’s tips on saving big with coupons
Double up. Purchase multiple Sunday newspapers for extra coupon insert sections.
Join reward programs at all the stores and learn how they work.
Read the fine print. A coupon may exclude trial sizes or you may grab an item not included in the offer.
Don’t toss that coupon. You never know when that item will go on sale and become a great deal.
Stock up. Buy multiples when items are on sale.
Be adventurous. Don’t stay loyal to a brand when you can get a far better deal on something new.
Share the savings. Think of a neighbor or someone in your community and pick up the item to donate.
Ask. Even veteran coupon users get useful advice from others so join an online forum or a local coupon club to maximize savings.
(Martinez is a member of http://www.hotcouponworld.com.)
Merrill Dubrow says:
SOME GOOD INFORMATION TO SHARE:
Online Coupons Clipping Along
MARCH 12, 2009
Don’t clip—click!
With the recession in full swing, US retail shoppers are looking for ways to save, and are finding deals through online coupons.
Not surprisingly, retailers are finding online coupons effective for bringing customers to their stores.
According to coupon processor Inmar, 13% of online coupons were redeemed in 2008, versus only a 1% redemption rate for print coupons.
Online coupons are growing at a furious pace, too, posting a 140% growth rate over 2007’s previous high. Unfortunately, online coupons represent only 1% of the 2.6 billion coupons offered annually in the US.
comScore data showed that most consumers still get their coupons from paper sources, such as Sunday papers, receipts or in a store. Less than 30% of consumers claimed to go online to find coupons.
What are some best practices for merchants looking to ride the momentum of online couponing?
“First, transparency,” said Coupons.com CEO Steve Boal. “Tell the consumer what they’re getting. Don’t hide the coupon behind a scheme.”
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“From a coupon point of view, the most important best practice on the Internet is to treat everybody the same,” added Mr. Boal. “Give all consumers the same value and coupon, except where geography makes a difference. Don’t give different coupons to different people based on things like behavior or demographic data.”
Mr. Boal did recommend changing the message for different audiences, however. In couponing, as almost everywhere else in marketing, targeting matters.
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