If you have some online shopping to do today, you may want to wait before you click “purchase.” A new study shows that the best coupons and deals may be a few days away.
The savings app and coupon browser extension SimplyCodes set out to determine when the best time is to take advantage of online coupons. So it analyzed emails from 30,000 retailers to find out when they’re most likely to include coupons in their marketing messages.
30,000 retailers – and you thought your email inbox was cluttered!
What SimplyCodes found is that Friday is the best day to open those emails, because that’s when you’re most likely to find a coupon inside. And it makes sense if you think about it. “Retailers often release new deals on Fridays to capitalize on the weekend shopping rush,” SimplyCodes noted. “With many people receiving their paychecks on Fridays, stores aim to capture that fresh spending power.”
Women’s clothing, skin care, and adult beverage stores are the categories with the most frequent Friday coupon releases, presumably since people planning weekend social outings are most likely to shop over the weekend for the new outfits, beauty products and party supplies they anticipate they’ll need.
And be sure to check the expiration dates of those Friday coupons, because if you can’t use them, you may be out of luck until next week. After Friday’s coupon surge, the number of new coupons released on Saturday and Sunday tends to plummet, with Sunday having the fewest new coupon releases all week. The thinking, SimplyCodes surmised, is that “many shoppers are already browsing and buying during this time,” so “retailers may feel less pressure to offer new incentives when traffic is naturally higher.”
The good news is, after the weekend dip, the number of new coupons slowly increases each day, leading up to the next peak on the following Friday.
The study comes on the heels of a SimplyCodes survey that found the majority of online shoppers have increased their use of coupon codes over the past year, with even more planning to do so more often in the year ahead. A followup analysis of coupon codes from 400,000 retailers found that there’s been a 31% increase in the number of coupons available to online shoppers.
So knowing where – and when – to look for these coupons is key. “The average shopper’s inbox is inundated with promotional messages, making it difficult to separate the truly valuable offers from the noise,” SimplyCodes noted. So by knowing retailers’ promotional habits, “shoppers can strategically time their purchases to maximize savings.”
The main takeaway is, don’t be quick to overlook or delete retailers’ emails that land in your inbox late in the week. The closer it gets to Friday, the more likely those emails have coupons inside. And if it gets to be Saturday or Sunday and you don’t see a coupon from your favorite retailer, you might want to delay any purchase and check your email later the following week.
And if you still don’t see a coupon – maybe you don’t need to be subscribed to that retailer’s emails at all. Instead of opening them and being disappointed, or ignoring them altogether, you can always unsubscribe. It may not help you save money, but with fewer emails cluttering your inbox, it will certainly save you time and aggravation. And not just on one day – but all week long.
Image source: Mockuper
