It can be difficult to save money when you’re brand loyal. If you’ll only buy a particular product, and it’s not on sale and there are no coupons available, you may be stuck paying full price.
So the majority of couponers don’t shop that way. A new survey finds they’re much more loyal to savings than brands.
GfK MRI’s “The Survey of the American Consumer” focused specifically on mobile coupon users. A third of those surveyed said they use mobile coupons when grocery shopping. Among 18-to-34-year-olds, that percentage was even higher, at 42%.
And those couponers want deals – however they can get them. 60% said they will “gladly switch brands to use a coupon.” And they don’t feel like they’re skimping in order to save. Most said they “change brands often for the sake of variety and novelty” – not just for the savings.
As it turns out, then, mobile couponers aren’t too much different than other couponers. Earlier surveys have also shown that shoppers of all sorts are more than willing to switch brands to save money.
A survey last year from marketing intelligence firm Market Track found that 74% of grocery shoppers will buy something other than their usual brand, if they can get it for less. An Acosta Sales and Marketing survey even drilled down to specific products – it found that shoppers were most likely to switch brands of oral care products, frozen breakfast foods and laundry detergent, if they can get a good deal. The Market Track survey found shoppers were least likely to switch brands of baby food, diapers, cosmetics or pet products.
There’s more to couponing than brand switching, though. Some other interesting tidbits from the GfK MRI survey include the findings that a quarter of high-income shoppers (who earn more than $200,000 a year) use mobile coupons when grocery shopping, despite the fact that they don’t “have to”. 82% of shoppers say they’re likely to stock up if they find a good deal. But a majority are cynical about the savings that coupons offer – 56% believe that if a manufacturer offers a coupon, that just proves that they’re charging too much for their product to begin with.
Ultimately, whatever the manufacturers’ motives in offering coupons, and whatever the level of their brand loyalty, 78% of those who use mobile coupons said their number-one goal is to save as much money as possible.
And when it comes to couponing – that, in the end, is really the whole point.
Intriguing.
So here’s a question – why do companies offer coupons in the first place?
I assume it is to get new consumers to TRY their product… and hopefully develop BRAND LOYALTY.
However, if the majority of couponers are “deal-loyal”, and not “brand-loyal”, what is the benefit to companies in continuing to offer coupons?
Perhaps they’ve calculated that a certain percentage of couponers will like their product so much, that they become brand loyal?
But that may be more the casual, occasional couponer, versus the experienced, hardcore couponer.
I’d love to understand the long-term business benefit to companies, with offering coupons.
Thanks!