Digital trend, stale deals may lower coupon use

The number of coupons used by Americans to stock their pantries plummeted in 2012 – down 17 percent. After surging during the Great Recession, the old-fashioned savings tool seems to have lost favor among consumers. Or has it? Coupon industry insiders disagree on whether the drop is an aberration caused by a poor mix of coupon offers in 2012 or whether it signals the beginning of the end of the paper coupon era. “There’s a lot of discussion within the industry,” said John Morgan, executive director of the Association of Coupon Professionals, the coupon industry’s trade organization. “The industry is not used to having double-digit (swings) either way,” Morgan said. “That’s a big deal. Historically, it has been slow single-digit (increases or decreases) either way.” With an uneven economic recovery as the backdrop, coupon-clipping shoppers have taken notice.