• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, April 13, 2009

To appeal to increasingly cost-conscious consumers, Hearst Magazines Digital Media today is expected to announce a partnership with Coupons.com to launch a coupon gallery within a new Coupons & Deals section of food site Delish.com.

"Consumers tell us they're looking for ways to save money at the grocery store," said Elizabeth Shepard, executive director at Delish.com.

Last December, online searches that included value words like "coupons" rose 161% to 19.9 million, while the word "discount" rose 26% to 7.9 million year-over-year, according to comScore.

A similar program executed on Hearst's QuickandSimple.com resulted in $100,000 worth of coupons being printed by consumers, according to Chuck Cordray, SVP and general manager of Hearst Magazines Digital Media. "With more than 5.5 million unique visitors logging on to Delish.com each month and an increased number of promotions on the site, we expect coupon printing volume to be at an all-time high," said Cordray.

Each site's coupon gallery is expected to promote a weekly "Super Saver" opt-in email program, which is managed by Coupons.com and co-branded with Hearst Magazines Digital Media brands.

In addition to editorial promotions, a link to the coupon gallery is being added to the main navigation on each site.

Online recipes will be powered with Concordance coupon technology, which links specific words mentioned in recipes to relevant coupons. This technology is designed to assist in driving additional traffic and page views to the galleries.

Based in Mountain View, Calif., Coupons, Inc. clients and licensees include consumer packaged goods brands like Johnson & Johnson, General Mills, Kimberly-Clark, Kraft Foods, McDonald's and Clorox along with grocery retailers including Kroger, Safeway, CVS and Kmart.