• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, September 3, 2001

Newspaper Couponing

David Asher, Manager of Business Analysis, Newspaper Association of America reported that 81% of the population consider cutting coupons from the newspaper a weekend-morning ritual. An MRI consumer study demonstrated that more than 80% of people who used coupons clipped them from newspapers.

+-------------------+-----------+---------+  | coupons for       | use       | use     |  |                   | newspaper | direct  |  |                   | coupons   | mail    |  |
|           | coupons |  +-------------------+-----------+---------+  |                   |           |         |  | Beverages         | 87 %      | 51 %    |  | Cleaning products | 89        | 46
|  | Cosmetics         | 89        | 59      |  | Food products     | 86        | 43      |  | Tobacco           | 83        | 55      |  | Toiletry items    | 90        | 48      |
+-------------------+-----------+---------+  

Source: MRI

Among those who used coupons more than 12 times in the past three months, more than 92% were newspaper-coupon clippers. And, of the people who use coupons to try new products, more than 90% are newspaper-coupon users. Marketers of consumer products continue to focus on free-standing inserts with 93% of total coupon expenditures.

While the positioning of a coupon in an FSI affects brand awareness, it doesn't change the reading of copy in an ad. A 1998 survey by Roper Starch Worldwide on reader awareness of FSIs showed that placement on covers or in spreads brought the highest recognition of the featured brand.

  +--------------+------------+------+  |              |
Associated | Read |  |              |            | Most |  +--------------+------------+------+  | Covers       | 80 %       | 38 % |  | Page 2       | 69         | 32   |  | Page 3       | 66
| 26   |  | Inside Pages | 54         | 24   |  | Spreads      | 70         | 37   |  | tabs         | 66         | 35   |  +--------------+------------+------+  

Associated - percent of readers who recognized the featured brand
Read Most - percent of readers who read more than half of the copy in the ad
Source: Roper Starch Worldwide, 1998

The report concludes that newspapers account for 55% of coupons redeemed in this country. Newspapers influence where consumers choose to shop for food - and most food shoppers prefer getting their supermarket advertising in newspapers.

Find out more here.