Digital Coupons – How Convenient Are They Really?

Though digital coupons are certainly rewriting the rules when it comes to saving money, how convenient are they really? Thanks to the current state of the economy, more consumers are scooping up coupons and ways to save, which makes analyzing this very question something that can easily be done.

 The Popularity of Coupons as a Whole

In general, coupon use has already gone up by 27 percent since 2008. According to the numbers, digital coupons hold 46 percent of the market, while print holds 34 percent.

Digital Coupons Attract New Parties
The average college student is not going to sit down and take the time to clip out coupons from the newspaper. The housewife, on the other hand, will. Digital coupons have taken this common situation and turned it. Now teenagers and older individuals alike are utilizing coupons – thanks to the omission of the scissors and time traditional coupon clipping takes.

Though coupons are attracting new consumers, how convenient are they really?

Using Digital Coupons versus Print Coupons
Though it is shown that digital coupons are more popular, the issue is that people who buy these digital coupons never actually use them. It seems it is easier to click and store a coupon than actually retrieve and use that coupon. Consider this, Michaels Arts & Crafts allows users to download coupons using an iPhone app. To use these coupons, however, they must hand their iPhone over to the store clerk who then manually inputs the coupon code. Imagine this very same scenario at the grocery store – a consumer could be there for hours. Print coupons are handed over to a checker at the store and scanned. There is no manual input, no room for error and certainly less time involved in the final process.

Digital Coupons

Pros

• Fast
• Convenient
• No clipping necessary
• Can go on mobile phones for quick access

Cons

• Require manual input in stores
• Harder to retrieve or organize for use

Print Coupons

Pros

• Easy to organize
• Quick to retrieve
• Quick to use

Cons

• Wastes paper
• Takes manual time to “clip” and save

Digital coupons and print coupons are purely preference. While some consumers find that digital coupons on their smartphones are more than adequate, others feel that carrying around print coupons is more convenient and pushes them to save.

[Image via hub.tappinn]