LIVONIA, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NCH Marketing Services, a subsidiary of Valassis, a leader in activating consumers through intelligent media delivery, today announced its Mid-Year 2018 Coupon Trends Analysis for Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG). The data reveals that four out of five coupons are redeemed from traditional print media. Consumers count on coupons for savings, notably millennials, who represent 80 million shoppers with $600 billion in annual buying power.
According to the 2K18 Coupon Intelligence Report, overall, 94 percent of consumers surveyed said they use coupons. This 4 percent increase from 2017 comes as millennials use coupons more often. Specifically, half of millennials said they “always or very often” use coupons, compared to 41 percent in 2016. The report also underscores the value of savings via print and digital media. According to the survey, 93 percent of respondents reported using paper, while 75 percent of consumers said they use paperless coupons.
The NCH analysis indicates that free-standing inserts (FSI) remain the primary distribution channel for coupons, though digital coupons are on the rise. The FSI represents 94.5 percent of distribution quantity, reflecting its scale of consumer reach for CPG marketers.
In the first half of 2018, CPG marketers shifted more of their coupon media mix toward digital formats, such as paperless clip-to-retailer-card offers. As digital distribution rises, redemption of these coupons has increased as well. Year-over-year for the same time period, paperless coupons redeemed jumped from 9.8 percent to 15.7 percent, according to NCH.
“The influence of coupons on consumers’ decisions is strong and growing with a broader media mix along the path to purchase,” said Charlie Brown, Vice President of Marketing, NCH. “This means marketers must strike the optimum balance of media reach and consumer activation to produce positive results for their brands across all retail channels and consumer audiences.”
It’s evident that consumers want to save using coupons; in fact, Prosper Insights & Analytics finds that consumers rank coupons as the most influential media on the purchase of grocery and beauty products. Additionally, RetailMeNot research reveals that coupons can be instrumental to driving sales, as 67 percent of consumers surveyed said they have made a purchase they weren't originally planning to make solely based on finding a coupon or discount.
With this in mind, incorporating digital into the marketing mix is critical, but the NCH analysis suggests marketers need to optimize the right amount of print and digital together to maintain the benefits coupons bring to brands: sales lift, new user trial and increasing market share.
For more information, view the NCH mid-year CPG coupon trends analysis infographic here.
About Valassis
Valassis helps thousands of local and national brands tap the potential of industry-leading data through intelligent media delivery – understanding, engaging and inspiring millions of consumers to action with smarter cross-channel campaigns. We’ve been a part of consumers’ lives for decades, introducing new ways to deliver offers and messages that activate them — whether via mail, digital, in-store or the newspaper. NCH Marketing Services, Inc. and Clipper Magazine are Valassis subsidiaries, and RetailMeNot Everyday™ is its consumer brand. Its signature Have You Seen Me?® program delivers hope to missing children and their families. Valassis and RetailMeNot are wholly owned subsidiaries of Harland Clarke Holdings.
