Digital CPG Blog

CPG manufacturers offered consumers $485 billion in coupon savings in 2010, according to the “2010 Coupon Facts Report” from NCH Marketing Services, a Valassis company. This represents a 13.9 percent increase over the prior year and 47.4 percent growth compared to five years ago.

Here are some more points from the report.

Coupons become more DESIRABLE:

• The average face value of CPG coupons distributed in 2010 increased by 6.6 percent to $1.46.
• The average coupon face value distributed for grocery products in 2010 was $1.24, up 6.9 percent from the prior year.
• The largest growth was in beverages, now averaging $1.52 up from $1.18 in 2009.
• The average coupon face value distributed for HBC products was $1.94, up 6.6 percent from the prior year.
• Over the counter (OTC) and prescription medication coupons carry an average face value of $2.21, up from $2.17 in 2009.
• 26 percent of all CPG coupons issued in 2010 required the purchase of two or more items to obtain the offer discount. 33 percent of the grocery coupons required multiple purchases and only 13 percent of HBC coupons required multiple purchases to receive the discount.
• Consumers now have a week and a half less time to use coupons, compared to the prior year, due to an overall shortening of offer expiration dates in both the grocery and HBC segments. The average expiration is 10.1 weeks.
• 64.4 percent of all grocery coupons distributed expire in eight weeks or less, and 59.6 percent of all HBC coupons distributed expire in eight weeks or less.

Consumers ENJOY the frugal lifestyle:

• 25 percent report that they are clipping more coupons due to their personal economic situation.
• Nearly three quarters of those who made such shopping changes expect to continue their frugal habits in the future, even as the economy improves.
• Among those consumers who reported using more coupons than the prior year, the largest share in 2009, 37.4 percent, explained their reason for doing was so to stretch a limited grocery budget out of necessity.
• Once consumers adopt these frugal habits, they quickly discover that they like the feeling of saving money. Acceptance of these new habits can be seen in the largest share of response for increased coupon usage in the 2010 survey — 29.3 percent of consumers stated they are using more coupons for the enjoyment of saving, an increase of 11.7 share points over those stating that reason the prior year.