The SmartSource Coupon Insert Is Officially Retired

Don’t look for a SmartSource coupon insert this Sunday – or ever. It’s been more than three months since SmartSource has appeared in Sunday newspapers. And it now turns out that the slim, sporadic editions published earlier this year were the last.

Coupons in the News can now exclusively report that SmartSource publisher Neptune Retail Solutions has officially pulled the plug on its nearly four-decade-old free-standing insert (FSI) coupon publication.

“We made the decision to cease our SmartSource FSI business operations,” a Neptune representative wrote in an email to newspaper publishers earlier this month. “We were hoping to make some changes to keep the program going. Unfortunately, with the shift of both the advertising and print industries, we could not find a way to make it work. 3/2/25 was the last issue.”

The news will come as little surprise to those who’ve watched the SmartSource insert wither away to a shadow of its former self in recent years. As clients dropped out, Neptune canceled planned publications, took longer pauses between publishing new editions, and those that were published contained fewer and fewer coupons.

Since purchasing the coupon business from News Corp five years ago, Neptune has been busy digitizing its operations in response to declining newspaper readership and the subsequent decline in paper coupon use. It appeared that the writing was on the wall for the SmartSource insert by late last year, when Neptune redesigned its website to emphasize its “in-store media, digital incentives and near-store digital-out-of-home networks,” and all references to paper coupons were scrubbed from the site altogether.

When asked, several times, what finally led to the decision to discontinue the SmartSource insert, Neptune did not respond.

But if recent editions were any indication, manufacturer demand for placement in the SmartSource inserts had simply dried up. The final publications contained mostly ads, promotions for Neptune’s Checkout 51, and just a scattered few actual coupons.

So its demise may not be a surprise, considering there already hasn’t been a SmartSource in months. But its official retirement marks the end of an era nonetheless.

SmartSource’s history dates back to 1988, when News Corp bought the coupon insert publishers Quad/Marketing and Product Movers and merged their two publications into one, under the new SmartSource branding. At its peak, SmartSource reached tens of millions of consumers nearly every week of the year. But by the time News Corp sold the insert business 22 years later, it was already downplaying printed coupon inserts’ importance, saying the company had long since “shifted from being a newspaper insert company to being more of an in-store marketing company.”

And as new owners Neptune Retail Solutions accelerated that shift to in-store marketing and digital promotions, perhaps the only wonder is that the insert business ended up lasting five additional years.

While SmartSource may be gone, the coupon insert format is still alive. And RR Donnelley, the publisher of the Save insert, now has the business all to itself. When contacted for comment, RRD said it remains committed to the format.

“Save FSI is a proven medium that CPGs have relied on for decades,” RRD President of Cooperative Media & Marketing Curtis Tingle told Coupons in the News. “We believe in the power of our FSI and will continue to evolve and innovate on behalf of clients and consumers.”

Save traces its roots back to 1972, when, under previous ownership and a different name, it published the very first regularly-scheduled newspaper coupon insert. And now the first of its kind is the last one standing.

And RRD says it’s possible to look to the future of couponing, without jettisoning what has worked in the past. “RRD remains committed to offering print and digital solutions for CPG clients to reach deal-seeking consumers,” Tingle said. “Studies show that consumers are less loyal and more deal hungry, with appetite for print coupons increasing year over year, even in younger demographics.” He pointed to internal research showing that 88% of consumers are frustrated with grocery prices. And they’re looking for ways to save – no matter the format. “Consumers remain steadfastly committed to using coupons to save money, decide what to buy, and even where to shop,” he said.

Times have certainly changed, and we’re more likely to look for deals these days by scrolling through our phone than paging through a newspaper. One publisher has given in to that reality. But another recognizes that there’s still a market for physical coupons you can carry with you and use just about anywhere you shop. And it hopes to ensure that remains the case, for some time to come.