Extreme couponing is moving from being a fringe hobby of hoarders, worthy of a reality show, to a mainstream practice of consumers across America. More men, young people and busy two-career households are using coupons, loyalty programs and price matching to save money on the rising costs of groceries. Some retailers are welcoming the creative couponers, while manufacturers and marketing industry professionals downplay the impact of what they call a hobby.The TLC channel, owned by Discovery Communications, aired five seasons of the scripted reality show ìExtreme Couponingî from 2010 through 2012. The history of the coupon for savings and introducing new items in America goes back to 1888, when Coca-Cola used coupons for a free glass of the new soda to introduce consumers to the product.The success of Coke’s use of coupons to introduce a new item inspired other companies to use coupons for that purpose. ìManufacturers use coupons to encourage people to try a new product, hoping they’ll become loyal customers once they try this new thing the manufacturer thinks is great,î said John Morgan, executive director of the Association of Coupon Professionals, a trade organization of manufacturers and retailers who use coupons for marketing. ìThey’ll also use coupons to cushion price increases on established products.îRetail grocery stores accept coupons because they are reimbursed by the manufacturer for the value of the coupon savings, in addition to a small processing fee. The coupon also might bring a customer into the store for an extra shopping trip, which could add to overall sales. ìI think mainly it’s to bring customers in the store,î said Heather Halpape, spokeswoman for Safeway. ìIf they’re motivated to buy a product at a discount, they’ll do extra shopping while they’re here.îThat urge to buy items they might not otherwise use because they have a coupon sometimes backfires on consumers. ìWhat happens when I coupon shop? I spend $215 and walk out with a bunch of junk that I do not need,î said Heather Zambrano of Falcon.Groceries compete with each other to offer better sounding discounts and coupon policies. Double coupon days, where the retailer would increase the savings provided through a coupon without being reimbursed by the manufacturer, have been largely replaced by company-specific smartphone apps, price matching and loyalty cards. ìWe’re all fierce competitors in the grocery business, but we try to focus on what we can do for our customers and give the best value in our own stores,î Halpape said.Safeway launched the ìJust for Uî smartphone app in 2012 to create the same loyalty toward their stores that double couponing did in the past. ìThe ease of using apps and their phone is more convenient for people,î Halpape said. Walmart’s Savings Catcher program joined its Price Match Guarantee program earlier this year.ìWalmart accepts coupons and launched the Savings Catcher program because we are committed to providing our customers low prices everyday — on everything,î said Ashely DeKraai, spokeswoman for Walmart.The classic clipable coupon from the Sunday newspaper isn’t going away any time soon, even with these other programs and apps becoming more popular, Morgan said. ìMarketers aren’t giving up on the Sunday paper,î he said. ìThey are trying to do everything so they can be where their target market gets their media. So, they’ll try the paper, printable coupons, click to card and the apps all at once.î Research from Morgan’s association shows that 80 percent of coupons are still distributed through Sunday newspapers. 40 percent of all coupons and similar savings are redeemed through those paper coupons.Consumers inspired by the TLC show and media stories about strategic heavy coupon use are still a small percentage of overall shoppers. ìDespite the attention on it in the media and the reality shows, extreme couponing is really not something a significant part of the population really does,î Morgan said.ìWe don’t see it a whole lot, but there are people that do it as a hobby or penny pinch as much as they can,î Halpape said. ìWe don’t see it as a huge trend and it doesn’t impact us much. For those who are motivated and organized, that’s great for them.îIndustry-wide redemption of coupons in 2013 was about 2.9 billion coupons, about the same as 2012, according to a Coupon Trends study released by Inmar, a transaction processing network supplier for retailers. The number of people who use coupons regularly has increased about 13 percent from pre-recession levels, according to a study by Valassis, the parent company of the RedPlum coupon insert.Social media groups such as Facebook’s ìColorado Springs Extreme Couponingî page and the nationwide CouponMom.com website help interested consumers learn how to strategically use coupons to dramatically lower grocery bills. The Colorado Springs Gazette holds heavily attended seminars hosted by a former Extreme Couponing show participant to teach people how to use their newspaper’s Sunday coupon inserts.Manufacturers hoping to get a new product into the homes of the greatest number of consumers see extreme use as a challenge to their marketing strategy. ìCoupons are a contract between the store and the manufacturer that the customer is involved in,î Morgan said. ìThe manufacturers and the stores are developing new policies and best practices to make sure that they aren’t abused and everyone has a chance to use new products.ìIt can be a negative thing for stores and other shoppers if someone hoards an entire shelf of the new shampoo, and no one else is able to use their single coupon to try the new product.îEditorís note: The stores interviewed for this article declined to provide statistics on what percentage of consumers use coupons or how many they redeemed, citing concerns about releasing proprietary marketing information.
