Don't Call It A Comeback...

I was reading a story on the NY Times website about how the economic downturn has led to a resurgence in popularity for coupons. A lot of companies aren't using traditional print mediums though; choosing to use online methods to their advantage instead. This causes consumers to spend more time with the brands and coupons can also be tailored to suit specific consumers.

Here are some excerpts:
The Lucky Brand of apparel sold by Liz Claiborne is offering coupons on a humorous holiday Web site (luckybuckoff.com). The more skillfully computer users play a game, the larger the discount they earn on coupons redeemable at stores or on the regular Lucky Web site (luckybrandjeans.com). The discount, 20 percent off for every player, can be raised to 25 or 30 percent.

New technologies are also helping to renew interest in coupons, especially for younger consumers. There are scores of Web sites where coupons can be obtained by clicking rather than clipping; among them are coupons.com, couponcabin.com, couponcode.com, couponmom.com, 8coupons.com, fatwallet.com and shortcuts.com. Many also deliver coupons by e-mail messages.

In 2007, according to the Coupon Council of the Promotion Marketing Association, 89 percent of the population said they used coupons, compared with 86 percent in 2006. “I’ve looked at some data that show 94 percent say they’re using coupons in 2008,”said Charles Brown, co-chairman of the council and vice president for marketing services at NCH Marketing Services in Deerfield, Ill., a unit of Valassis Communications.
Last year was the first time since 1992 that redemption rates for coupons did not decline from the previous year.