Coupons Use Soared in ’09 at All Stores: Nielsen

After several years of flat growth from 2006 through 2008, coupon redemption in the U.S. grew by 27% last year, according to new research from The Nielsen Company.

Coming off a three-year average of 2.6 billion redemptions in the period ending 2008, coupon offers saw a record increase to 3.3 billion redemptions in 2009—the second highest year-over-year growth ever recorded in coupon use, according to NCH Marketing Services, a Valassis affiliate.

While the great majority of those 2009 redemptions (65%) took place at the grocery store checkout counter, Nielsen found that the biggest increase came in redemptions at dollar/discount/variety store register, where the number of coupons handed in jumped 71% last year. By contrast, grocery redemptions only increased 20%.

Mass merchandisers also saw a bigger jump in coupon redemptions than conventional supermarkets, with a 26% increase. Both dollar stores and mass merchandisers had a 20% share of the redemption business last year.

Other outlets with smaller shares also saw double-digit increases in coupon redemption: pharmacies (16%), convenience stores (12%) and military commissaries (12%).

As to redemption methods, the Nielsen report pointed to data collected by Inmar Inc. that found a 2635 increase in the use of coupons distributed over the Internet. Direct-mail coupons saw a 69% boost in redemptions, and direct-mail co-op offers experienced a 45% jump. Those distributed through free-standing inserts in newspapers saw a 36% jump in redemptions, while coupons redeemed in digital promotions underwent a 31% increase.

Newspaper inserts are still the primary means of coupon distribution (89%) and make up the largest part of redemptions (53%), according to Nielsen.

Surprisingly, Nielsen found that affluent households drove the big expansion in coupon use last year, with incomes of $70,000 or more making up 41% of the coupon “enthusiast” group—the most likely to use a coupon—and 38% of the “super heavy” coupon user groups.

Coupon “enthusiasts” also make up more than half (51%) of the larger households, i.e. those with three or more members, Nielsen found. Those 65 and older are also major “heavy’ and “super heavy’ coupon redeemers.

The Nielsen study concludes that coupon use has become a long-term habit for American shoppers that marketers will need to factor into their campaigns even as the economy ticks upward.

‘With the economic recovery taking hold slowly and without significant employment growth, expect coupon use to continue,” Todd Hale, senior vice president for consumer and shopper insights wrote in the official Nielsen blog [[http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/the-coupon-comeback/]]. “With advancements in coupon delivery vehicles that enable both better targeted coupon distribution and redemption, manufacturers and retailers will continue to have real opportunities to use coupons to drive sales for the next few years and beyond.”