Winston-Salem, NC (PRWEB) October 21, 2013
Inmar announced today that overall coupon redemption volume increased one percent for the third quarter of 2013 as compared to the same period last year. This increase was driven by redemption growth among several paper coupon types as well as paperless, digital coupons — with redemption volume for these e-wallet offers up 86 percent versus Q3, 2012.
The uptick in overall redemption for the quarter also marked a reversal in recent declines in coupon redemption. While year-to-date (YTD) coupon redemption was down 4.3 percent compared to the first nine months of 2012, it signals an improvement in the marketplace as coupon redemption was, by comparison, down 6.6 percent for the first half of 2013 compared to the same period in 2012.
Digital coupons stood out as the exception with YTD redemption up 160 percent versus 2012.
Paper methods experiencing significant increases in redemption volume during the quarter included Electronic Shelf (up almost 64 percent), On Pack Cross-Ruff (up 32.6 percent) and Instant Redeemable which saw redemption volume increase more than 19 percent over Q3, 2012. Paralleling increased redemption for these three in-store methods during the third quarter was growing use of paper coupons discovered pre-trip. Among these were Direct Mail, which saw a redemption increase of 17.6 percent, Internet print-at-home (up 2.6 percent) and Electronic Checkout that registered 9.8 percent growth in redemption over Q3, 2012.
Free-Standing Inserts (FSIs) representing 89.7 percent of all coupons distributed during Q3 experienced a 5.5 percent decline in redemption volume compared with Q3, 2012. Still, usage for FSIs topped 244 million coupons redeemed during the quarter.
What were seeing, says Inmar CEO David Mounts, are shoppers taking advantage of an increasing number and growing variety of more relevant, better-targeted offers. Theyre acquiring these coupons through retailer loyalty programs, finding them in their mailbox and receiving them at checkout. At the same time, shoppers are actively pursuing additional savings in aisle — augmenting and enhancing their pre-planned shopping strategies. While shoppers today have an expectation that they are entitled to easily-realized savings, its apparent that they are willing to put forth additional effort in the store and take advantage of the offers they discover during their shopping trip.
The increasing use by shoppers of in-store methods along with more personalized offers (targeted using demographics and other shopper data and reflecting prior shopper behavior) represents continuation of previously identified acquisition and redemption trends. Inmars most recent Shopper Behavior Study revealed that shoppers, on average, use 6.43 methods for discovering and acquiring coupons — both traditionally delivered as well as digitally discovered.
Consumers are definitely employing digital technology to enhance their shopping experience, says Mounts, but, theyre still using their scissors to save money with traditional paper methods. And, manufacturers remain committed to FSIs as cost-effective, sales-driving promotions. With the abundance of value opportunities and marketers working to make these types of offers more relevant to customers, its a great time to be savings-minded shopper.
Inmar has been in the promotion industry for more than 30 years. The company currently processes and analyzes more than 2.3 billion coupons and related campaigns annually, making it an expert in planning, executing and measuring promotions. In addition to providing promotion management, coupons processing, business intelligence and consulting, Inmar closely monitors coupon distribution and redemption across the country and regularly reports on trends and activity in this sector. Some of the information included is based on Inmar-client data and is intended solely to be directional.
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About Inmar
Inmar is a technology company that operates intelligent commerce networks. Our platforms connect offline and online transactions in real time for leading retailers, manufacturers and trading partners across multiple industries which rely on Inmar to securely manage billions of dollars in transactions. Our Promotions, Supply Chain and Healthcare platforms enable commerce, generate meaningful data and offer growth-minded leaders actionable analytics and execution with real-time visibility. Founded in 1980, Inmar is headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina with locations throughout the United States, Mexico and Canada.
For more information about Inmars products and services, please call 866-440-6917 or visit http://www.inmar.com.