They may be newcomers to the printable coupon scene, and they may not have coupons for all the top brands on their site just yet – but you’ve got to hand it to Hopster. They certainly know how to turn a hot topic into a clever promotion.
The printable coupon site is running a “Double Coupon Day”, today only. Until midnight Pacific time (that’s August 29th at 3am Eastern) all coupons available on the site will be doubled in value. All the better to generate some attention and excitement, while having a little fun at some major grocery chains’ expense.
“Double coupons used to be a wonderful service grocers offered their customers, as a way to thank them for their patronage,” Hopster CEO Brian Wiegand said in a news release, “but now we’re seeing more and more chains eliminate this service, as they watch out for their bottom line.” Therefore, Hopster says it’s bringing double coupons back – if only for the day. All printable coupons on Hopster that are normally worth 99¢ and under, are doubled in value today. Coupons worth $1 and up have been increased by 50¢.
Hopster debuted earlier this year, offering a new spin on printable coupons. You can print them at face value, or earn points that you can redeem to “boost” the value of the coupons, to double the original value, or beyond. You earn points if you “interact” with brands, by engaging with them on social media or via email. Some may be uncomfortable with the idea (read: “What Would You Be Willing to Give Up for Higher-Value Coupons?”), but it’s not required if all you want is to print the coupons as is and skip the “boosting”.
Either way, boosting isn’t necessary today – it’s temporarily disabled for the day, in order to offer double coupon values for everyone.
“We believe strongly in the brands that we work with, and are eager for shoppers to discover their products,” Wiegans said. “So we’re putting our money where our mouth is by funding the doubling ourselves. It’s the least we can do for the brands we serve and their massive shopper base.”
As timely a promotion as it may be, given the number of stores that have recently ended the practice of doubling coupons, Hopster‘s campaign is actually something of a throwback to an earlier time. Before grocery stores began routinely reaching into their own pockets to fund double coupons (read: “Couponing at 40: Double the Coupons, Double the Fun”), manufacturers sometimes did it themselves. On occasion, they’d issue “double coupon certificates” in newspapers. If you cut one out and attached it to a regular coupon for the company’s product, the certificate would instruct the cashier to double the coupon’s value – and the manufacturer would cover the full cost.
So, while Hopster‘s plan might be seen as a cheeky poke in the eye of the grocery chains that have eliminated double coupons, those that have done so are unlikely to take offense. In fact, they might actually thank Hopster for doing so. Customers get their double coupons, and the grocery chains don’t even have to pay for it. It’s a win-win-win – for shoppers, for stores, and most of all, for a startup printable coupon site looking for the extra attention that a canny and creative promotion can provide.
