Just as jobs, homes and car advertising has been migrating from print to online, even coupon advertisements are moving online. The online coupon industry deals with two types of coupons – coupons or discount codes for online retailers and coupons that can be printed out and used at bricks and mortars retailers. The migration of coupons to the online world has been slowed by challenges over fraudulent uses of coupons. If I make two copies of an advertisement for a car – all I am doing is wasting my printer ink. However, if I make two copies of a coupon for a dollar off I can potentially double my savings.
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The leaders in online coupon publishing are Coupons.com and Smartsource.com. Considering that, prompted by the Depression, coupons became a staple in American households in the 1930s, it should come as no surprise the coupon use in 2009 is skyrocketing. Coupons.com reports that in March there was a 192 percent increase in the value of coupons printed from its site, translating into $57 million in March, 2009. Similarly, a 2008 coupon usage survey by Prospectiv (the owner of Eversave) reported that 72 percent of consumers surveyed said their coupon usage was up. Additionally 56% indicated that their usage of online coupons was likely to increase.
Coupons.com and Smartsource both deal with the challenge of limiting the number of times a consumer can print a coupon and providing for a unique ID on each coupon to control potential fraudulent uses. Although in the case of Coupons.com that technology has weathered both privacy policy challenges from TRUSTe and they just settled a copyright lawsuit. Most of the websites like Coolsavings.com, Eversave.com and Couponmom.com that will show up in search results for online coupons are actually using the technology from either Coupons.com or Smartsource.
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In addition to the official coupon publishers there is a booming universe of coupon classified sites that aggregate coupon codes. As you can see from the metrics below, the sites like Slickdeals.net, Eversave.com and Retailmenot.com are a attracting millions of unique visitors each month. These sites aggregate links to printable coupons, codes that can be used on online retailer sites and sometimes are often members of the affiliate programs of online retailers where they offer discounts by sharing the commissions they receive from the retailers.
If you take a look at Slickdeals.net you will see an amazing example of user-shared content. As I write this article there are over 18,000 people currently using the site looking at tens of thousands of postings – all made by consumers. Consumers who have found coupons, have questions on how to use coupons or are discussing how to maximize savings (“can you use a $5 off $25 and a $10 off $25 if you buy more than $50 of goods?”).
The Retailmenot.com site also relies on user content, although in a much more structured social media way. While users can enter in discount codes or links to coupons, instead of discussion among the visitors Retailmenot.com relies on voting. Consumers click on the green check or red X to report whether or not this coupon or discount worked for them. Thus the experience of crowds allows you to quickly see how reliable this user shared content is. The reason you need this voting is that many of the deals you will see on a site like Slickdeals.net or Retailmenot.com were really meant for a small group of consumers or were only valid for a very specific time period. The retailers never intended for them to be publicized.
Eversave.com is an example of a more traditional business approach to coupon classifieds. Most of the deals they offer are approved by the online retailers. Whereas a slickdeals or retailmenot may have a contentious relationship with retailers, Eversave.com is a partner focusing on affiliate programs and approved discounts.
The coupon classifieds are a great example of all the current Internet trends – increased usage, increased user supplied information and increased use of social media. It’s also a Wild West type of world with sites routinely copying information from one another in a race to attract the most number of coupon hunters to their site.
By David Silversmith
May 6, 2009
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