More “Evidence” That Coupons Could See A Resurgence

 Echoing another study that came out a little over a week ago, a marketing company called ICOM Information Communications has released a survey suggesting that 45 percent of respondents are “much more likely” to use coupons during a coming recession, while 22 percent are “somewhat more likely.”

According to a statement released by the company, “Broken down by age, 71% of consumers in the 18-34 year-old age bracket said they are much more likely or somewhat more likely to use coupons in a recession. That compares to 68% in the 35-54 year-old bracket and 63% among those 55 years and above.

“Geographically, 70% of Midwesterners said they are much more likely or somewhat more likely to use coupons in a recession, versus 69% of Westerners, 64% of Northeasterners and 62% of Southerners.

“Income didn’t make a significant difference to respondents, with 68% of those earning less than $50,000 a year saying they are much more likely or somewhat more likely to use coupons in a recession, compared to 67% for those earning more than $50,000.”

In addition, 58 percent of those surveyed said they could “see their coupon use increasing if they could download a coupon from the Internet and have it automatically connected to an electronically swiped frequent shopper card.”

ICOM notes that “over the past ten years, the average coupon redemption rate has declined to less than 1.0 percent from a level of 1.6 percent across all U.S. coupons distributed.”

It should be noted that in the study recently conducted by coupon processor CMS, it was reported that consumers redeemed 2.6 billion coupons in 2007 – the same number that were redeemed in 2006, and the first time in 16 years that coupon redemption has not dropped.