Don’t Toss That Receipt! There May Be Grocery Coupons On It

These days, you don’t need a piece of paper to save money, or to keep track of your purchases. Both coupons and receipts are going digital – potentially eliminating the need for their printed counterparts altogether.

But doing away with paper could also do away with some serious savings opportunities.

So says a company that prints paper coupons on paper receipts – revealing a vested interest in ensuring that shoppers don’t lose interest in good old-fashioned dead trees. And to anyone considering going all digital, the company says plenty of shoppers are, in fact, interested in printed savings.

According to survey results announced by IndoorMedia’s Register Tapes Unlimited (RTUI), 70% of consumers said they were interested in receiving coupons on their grocery store receipts specifically for products that are sold in grocery stores, such as food, household and personal care products.

RTUI prints offers on the backs of receipts in more than 9,000 grocery stores run by the likes of Kroger, Safeway, ShopRite and H-E-B. If you’ve shopped at any of those stores, or others like them, you’ve probably seen RTUI’s work – colorful coupons and ads from local businesses printed on the otherwise unused real estate on the reverse side of receipts. “From doctors to lawyers to realtors to automobile dealers,” RTUI says, “these industries… have made register receipt advertising a hallmark of their advertising budgets and strategies.”

But wouldn’t it be even better if those offers could actually be used in the very grocery stores where you receive them? Would you be as likely to skim or ignore the offers if they gave you money off the grocery products you’re most likely to buy?

Survey respondents think so. 61% said they would be likely to use grocery coupons printed on the backs of the receipts to plan their next shopping trip.

So RTUI is using the survey results to help pitch its product to grocery brands. “Back of grocery store receipt offers for local businesses have been successful for over 30 years,” said IndoorMedia SVP/General Manager of Sales & Marketing Jesse Aversano. “Now we know that interest extends to national brands.”

RTUI is the latest to promote the value of printed receipts – to both advertisers and shoppers. The marketing technology firm inStream prints coupons at the bottom of receipts in stores like Dollar General. In August, it released the results of its own survey, in which 70% of shoppers said coupons printed at the bottom on their receipts were most convenient for them, as compared to coupons they receive in the mail, in the Sunday circulars or online. And 58% said they were likely to use a coupon found on their receipt, compared to only 16% who said they prefer to seek out digital coupons.

“Even though many marketers are focused on the latest technology to deliver savings to consumers, this research shows that there are new opportunities to use traditional ways to reach shoppers,” said Mark Peiser of marketing consulting group Peiser Marketing, which helped commission the RTUI survey.

“We’ve created a product that blends the best of the printing industry at the lowest cost in the most markets,” RTUI says. “No other advertising medium is as valuable, effective, or affordable.”

And, in an increasingly digital age, RTUI wants to ensure its advertising medium of choice remains relevant and available as well.

Image source: RTUI