Coupons may not be as plentiful lately as you’d like them to be. But a new report finds you can save a whole lot of money on your groceries anyway, as promotions of the non-coupon type are soaring.
According to Numerator’s “The State of Trade Promotions in 2024: Emerging Trends & Strategies,” the volume of promotions has doubled since 2021, when they bottomed out during the worst of the Covid pandemic. The number of items advertised in weekly circulars is about the same, so that’s not the source of the increase. The number of digital coupons is up 27%, which is not insignificant but also isn’t driving the surge. The greatest increase by far is in the form of digitally-advertised sale prices, which are up 72% over the past year alone.
Among major grocery, personal care and household goods retailers, Kroger and Albertsons were already the most promotional by far, with hundreds of thousands of individual promotions offered in the first half of last year – and both have increased the number of promotions even further, Kroger by 11% and Albertsons by 14%. And since Target relaunched its Target Circle loyalty program this past spring, the average number of Circle offers per week has increased 16%.
But that’s nothing compared to some other major retailers. Numerator found that Dollar General has nearly doubled its digital coupon and cash back offers over the past year, with its total promotions up 91%. Numerator says CVS is offering fewer ExtraBucks promotions, where you have to buy promoted items now in order to save later, in favor of broader price discounts. That’s helped its promotional levels soar by 131% over the past year. Even Walmart, which traditionally relies on everyday low prices as opposed to sales and deals, has stepped up its promotional game, offering 104% more promotions than last year.
While Walmart still emphasizes its everyday savings – “we have always focused on being a great value with everyday low price,” Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner told investors last month – it’s also playing up the fact that it’s offering many more sale prices, or rollbacks. “We have more than 7,200 rollbacks across categories,” Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said last month, “and we’ll continue working to get more rollbacks to help customers and help members save money.”
According to Numerator’s analysis, Walmart’s new emphasis on promotions is paying off. And it’s not just rollbacks. Nearly half of Walmart’s promotions now come in the form of Walmart Cash, the Ibotta-powered cash back offers that you can apply to future Walmart purchases. That’s up from just 20% earlier this year. And shoppers are responding – Numerator found that about a third of Walmart shoppers said they either buy items they weren’t planning to buy, buy brands they wouldn’t have bought, or buy more of an item if there’s a Walmart Cash offer associated with it.
Of course, savvy shoppers like combining discounts when they can – stacking a coupon with a cash-back offer, for example. Other times, a promotion can come in many different formats, but you can only choose one. Numerator found there’s actually very little redundancy in promotional methods – 90% of digital coupons are not available in print form, and 75% of digital deals are not available outside of a retailer’s website or app. There’s not even room in most weekly ads to contain the total number of promotions available at any given time, Numerator pointed out. Kroger, for example, offers approximately 150 items in an average weekly ad, while offering about 600 individual digital coupons each week.
Shoppers are also becoming savvier in looking for these deals wherever they may be offered. 65% of those surveyed by Numerator said they take the time to review all available promotions in all forms, whether in a retailer’s app or website, on third party sites or in the printed weekly circular. 43% said they’re shopping for more items on sale these days, 42% are using coupons, and 28% are holding out for promotions and won’t buy certain items until there’s a deal.
“Retailers who are willing to lean into promotions can drive additional consumer value and loyalty,” Numerator concluded, as its findings show that “promotions influence consumer behavior.” 43% of shoppers said they will buy a different brand if they can get a better deal, 34% will switch to another retailer for a better deal, and 33% will buy more of an item when there’s a promotion.
But even with promotions on the rise, there has to be a upper limit eventually. “More is not a sustainable promotional strategy,” Numerator pointed out. It says retailers and brands need to measure their promotions’ effectiveness, to ensure they’re incentivizing purchases and not giving away discounts to people who would have bought their products anyway.
It’s a tricky balance. But with prices having been on the rise for so long, the prospect of there being “too many promotions” is a problem that most shoppers would be happy to have.
Image source: Jeepers Media 
