Americans want their coupons, especially the printed kind. That's the finding of new research by CreditCards.com, which found that even young, connected consumers make use of old fashioned paper coupons to get their discounts.
Eighty-five percent of Americans use coupons, with 24 percent using them often, 29 percent sometimes and 32 occasionally. Even 18- to 24-year-olds use paper coupons about twice as frequently as other methods, such as digital coupons on their cellphones.
"Dead trees aren't dead when it comes to coupons," said Matt Schulz, CreditCards.com's senior industry analyst, in a statement. "Plenty of Americans are still opening their snail mail and reading the Sunday paper. I expect paper coupons to lose some market share, though, as consumers and brands get even more comfortable using them electronically."
While the number of coupons distributed through free standing inserts (FSIs) in the first half of 2015 fell 0.9 percent year-over-year, according to Marx, a Kantar Media solution, the value of the offers increased 5.5 percent. Non-foods, particularly personal care items, are driving much of the growth in paper coupons.
Photo: RetailWire
Large food, drug and mass retailers continue to participate in joint FSI efforts with manufacturers. Walmart, Walgreens, Target, Dollar General, Family Dollar, CVS, Safeway, Kroger, Publix and BJ's Wholesale Club were the top 10 chains when it came to pages circulated in the first half of the year.