Yesterday I explored the somewhat obvious change in consumer behavior as the economy continues to slide.  I was listening to the radio today and, I can’t recall which show, but they reported that the GPD shrunk .5% last quarter.  One more quarter of shrinking GDP and we are officially in a recession.  And that is driving users online in larger numbers and driving them right to coupon and discount sites.  Below is what I’ve found to back that up.

Consumer’s Online Behavior

In February of last year, as the economy worsened, ComScore reported an increase in coupon site traffic.  “The number of page views on Web sites that feature money-off coupons for all manner of consumer products surged 38%, to 281 million, in March from a year earlier, compared with 5% for the Internet as a whole, according to comScore (SCOR). Those visitors spent a total of 145 million minutes on the sites, a 37% increase. While the number of new users to coupon sites isn’t growing faster than the larger Internet audience, existing coupon site users are certainly becoming more active. “User engagement by deal-seekers appears to be ramping up,” says comScore analyst Andrew Lipsman. “As a general rule, something like online coupon site activity would increase as a result of macroeconomic trends.”“  Makes sense doesn’t it?  And from what I heard from my coupon affiliate colleagues, their traffic is up considerably as well.

“Visitors to Coupons.com, a decade-old site that lets users print coupons that can be redeemed in stores, grew 35% in the first three months of 2008, compared with the prior quarter, says the site’s CEO, Steven Boal.” Wow, a 35% increase in the 1st quarter over the 4th quarter of the year prior.  That is pretty significant.

Business week weighed in on traffic increases to coupon sites as well earlier this year.  Thanks to Michael Block for sharing this information:  “traffic to sites focusing on coupon offers has increased a whopping 38% from March 2007 to March 2008; compared with 5% growth for the Internet overall. They aren’t just going more often, people are spending more time on these sites - also up 37%.“  That increase was before our economy really got bad, or at least we realized how bad it was getting.

This summer, Hitwise released some very intrigueing data that shows the trend of more traffic to coupon sites continuing.  For the same week in June, coupon site traffic was up 56% over last year.  ““Rising gas prices and tightened budgets have many consumers using the Internet to help save money while shopping online and off. Retailers can entice purchases by making discounts available to price-conscious consumers as the cost of living continues to increase,” said Heather Dougherty, research director at Hitwise. “While discretionary income is shrinking for some households, consumers are still shopping online, but making sure that they find the best deals.”“  I think that is one of the key findings from this report.  Consumers are still shopping, but they are using coupons sites more and more to be sure they get the best deal.  The brands that are not there don’t get the benefit of this comparison and shopping.  US searches, during the same time, doubled compared to last year and that trend just keeps increasing.

In October of this year,  Entertainment.com announced in a press release:  “Entertainment.com usage has risen more than 50 percent in 2008 as consumers scramble for savings.” “Nationally, coupon usage has risen 72 percent in just the past six months, according to a consumer poll released in September by online marketing company Prospectiv.”

But wait there is more:

Lenka Keston of CouponWinner.com and SurfMyAds.com reported in eBizine.com on October 16th: “CouponWinner.com, a website that streamlines and publicizes the marketing capabilities of online coupons, has seen a 110 percent increase in traffic during 2008. The consumer is discovering the personal money-saving power of e-commerce, so retail companies need to explore new ways to monetize that power in order to stay competitive.”

There are more examples of this going on than I care to put here, otherwise this post would take four hours to read.  But it is clear that whether it is 37%, 56% or 110% increase, consumers still want to have a merry Christmas but are going to coupon sites in much larger numbers to do their shopping.

It is becoming increasingly important to participate on these websites and take care of these partners.  It’s not so much about branding anymore, it’s simply about sales.  If you are where the consumers are, they will shop with you, if not, well then a better placed competitor will get the chance to close the sale.

Tomorrow I’ll explore some ways merchants can provide creative coupons and some of the findings from my short and unscientific survey of the top coupon sites :).

Read my next post in this series.

Tags:  affiliate management branding consumer coupon redemption coupon affiliates coupon redemption coupons online behavior