Americans are legendary for their couponing prowess. There’s a reason “Extreme Couponing” was an American phenomenon, and you didn’t see it exported overseas as “Extreme Vouchering” or “Extreme Grocery Loyalty Scheme Point Collecting.”
But the Brits are catching on, and discovering that coupons are pretty cool.
The marketing technology company savi has released its annual Shopper Report, featuring a survey of 2,000 British shoppers who have used a grocery coupon at least once in the past year. The goal was to find out what they like, dislike, and what they want to see more of when shopping and trying to save at the grocery store.
What the survey takers discovered was a “coupon surge.” Grocery loyalty programs offering points to save up for rewards and discounts “were once the undisputed heavyweights” of UK grocery promotions, savi declared. But its newest survey found that “coupons have officially overtaken all other promotion mechanics to become the #1 influence on shopping behavior.”
Nearly three quarters of shoppers said coupons are most likely to influence their shopping behavior, up 16% from last year. It’s the top motivator across every age group, ahead of the half who prefer loyalty points and 40% who are influenced by cash back offers.
In the current environment, where grocery shoppers are looking for savings they can see at the checkout, loyalty points merely “offer a ‘promise’ of future value,” savi noted, while “coupons provide instant financial relief.”
Like their American counterparts, British couponers are also embracing digital offers. Almost three quarters of respondents have redeemed coupons using a smartphone, while nearly half said they have done so “many times.” 56% said they’re more likely to redeem a coupon if it’s easy to use, and half are likely to use it if they can redeem it from their phone.
Just like in the U.S., though, there’s still a learning curve, and some pushback from some shoppers to going all-digital. About a quarter of those surveyed said they have never redeemed a coupon using their phone. And 10% said they never would – that nothing at all could convince them to use their phone to redeem a coupon. That’s likely to be a generational concern, though, as only 2% of those under the age of 45 said the same.
The desire for savings – immediate, simple, easy-to-redeem savings – represents the rise of what savi calls the “tactical hunter.” That’s a shopper who is no longer a creature of habit, and whose loyalty is up for grabs – often to whoever offers them the best deal. “Shoppers are becoming ruthless” about what they choose to buy, savi pointed out, “which means brands need to give them a compelling reason to stay on the list. A well-timed offer or coupon could be the difference between staying in the basket and being swapped out for a cheaper alternative.”
70% of shoppers said they’d be likely to try a new product or brand if they had a coupon for it. More than two thirds said coupons increase their awareness of a brand, encourage them to buy more often, and increase their loyalty to a retailer or brand. In fact, more than half of shoppers said they’d consider switching stores altogether if they got better coupon offers somewhere else.
One of the more interesting phenomena about the move toward digital couponing, is that the embarrassment factor is no longer a hindrance to saving money for most. While some shoppers may have been reluctant to hand over a wad of paper coupons at the register for fear of looking cheap, redeeming digital coupons is seamless and surreptitious – no one needs to know. As a result, only 2% of survey respondents now said they’re embarrassed about using coupons at the grocery store.
All of this leads savi to declare that “coupons reign supreme” among savings methods. As prices rise and couponing becomes more accessible to most, shoppers are gravitating to coupon-friendly brands and retailers. Those that offer coupons could find themselves the beneficiaries of this “coupon surge” – while those that don’t, may find that attention from once-loyal customers is anything but surging.
Image source: Kai Hendry 
