More coupons, less savings in 2002

How did manufacturers of consumer products manage to shrink their promotional budgets yet increase the number of coupons they distributed by 3.8 percent during the 2002 recession?

Easy. They cut the value of the savings offered by the average coupon by 12 cents, shrunk the time coupons could be redeemed and more frequently forced consumers to buy two or more items to save any money.

It's the first time in at least 40 years that coupon marketers cut back so sharply and in so many ways.

Did shoppers notice all this minor surgery? You bet, according to NCH Marketing Services Inc., a Deerfield, Ill., company that tracks coupon use.

One survey found 69 percent of consumers said coupons expired too quickly. Only 51 percent said coupons save them money. That's well below the 71 percent who say coupons save them money now that the coupons have become more generous again.

In 2002, the coupon redemption rate slumped 5 percent to 3.8-billion of 248-billion distributed.

"The market rebounded dramatically in the second half of 2002, and we're back to normal," said Charles Brown, vice president of NCH. "But it's really too early to see what's happening this year."

Freestanding inserts tucked in newspapers remain the biggest and most cost-efficient point of coupon distribution with 86 percent of the market, Brown said. The Internet grew as a coupon distribution source by more than 50 percent in 2002 to 0.2 percent of the market. It remains the smallest of 50 measured ways that marketers distribute coupons.

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