Ditch the Clipping, Try Electronic Coupons

Sept. 11, 2007 — -- If you think cutting out and organizing paper coupons is more work than it's worth, you'll be glad to hear that there are easier, high-tech coupon options available now.

Manufacturers issued 331 billion grocery coupons in 2006 and less than 1 percent of them were redeemed. Although there are many reasons for the high number of coupons thrown away, part of the reason is that many shoppers find it too time-consuming to spend hours a month cutting out and organizing grocery coupons. It comes as no surprise that the easiest coupons to use, "electronic discount coupons," had the highest redemption rate (41 percent) compared to other types of grocery coupons. Fortunately for shoppers, more grocery stores are making electronic discount coupons available.

You can take advantage of electronic discount coupons more often by quickly looking at the store's weekly sales flyer before you shop. Many stores have some sort of electronic discount available every week. For example, earlier this month Kroger stores featured a promotion that gave shoppers $2 off their order automatically when shoppers purchased 10 participating items. The sales flyer promoted the electronic discount offer and special shelf tags clearly marked participating items. Similar promotions give shoppers a free item when they purchase participating items. When savings are this easy, it's worth taking a moment to glance at the flyer, even if you are not a coupon clipper.

Other stores like Jewel in the Midwest and CVS/Pharmacy stores are installing new coupon kiosks in their stores. Shoppers scan their store discount card at the kiosk, which generates coupons for the types of items or specific brands that the shopper has purchased in the past. No clipping required!

There are also new electronic solutions to make it easier for consumers to save money at local businesses, such as coupons you can use on your cell phone. Cellfire is a company that believes people would be more likely to use coupons if they were delivered directly to their cell phone, particularly younger consumers who do not traditionally use newspaper coupons. Shoppers simply sign up for the mobile coupon service at no cost at www.cellfire.com.

Cellfire sends them coupons via a text message on their cell phone. Shoppers open the text message and view the coupon offer, such as $5 off at a restaurant. When they visit the restaurant, they simply show the server the coupon offer on the screen of their cell phone and the server deducts that amount from their bill. I've heard many shoppers tell me that they get to the restaurant and realize they've forgotten their coupon, but very few people forget their cell phone. Even the most reluctant coupon users might find that to be a more sophisticated way to use coupons.