Coupons are a marketing technique offered by several merchants, and stand true for both; online and physical shops. Coupons are of great rage during festive seasons. This is true for both online stores and brick & mortar stores.
Businesses tend to offer discounts several times during the year; especially during festive occasions. The discounts and coupons offered to tend to vary and there are many different types of coupons too.
The coupons can either be for a specific product or a general discount. There are several other types of discounts like percentage-based discounts, free shipping, gift, buy 1 get 1 or a discount for the next purchase.
The use of coupons is increasing due to the advent of eCommerce. The fact that more people now trust online shopping has been a boon for online businesses. The eCommerce sites now offer more discount coupons to consumers to entice them into shopping more online.
Coupons have been around for a very long time and have been used in many ways. This has been a marketing technique for quite a while but it has evolved over the years and is now used quite smartly by a large number of businesses. The Australian coupons market continues to evolve with more businesses seeking to take advantage of this form of marketing.
Consumers too can take advantage of coupons in many ways like buying regular products, those in their wish list and other products that they might have been considering buying. This article provides information on how consumers can use them more effectively.
How to find coupons?
Make a list of products that you are planning to buy and those that you buy on a regular basis and keep a lookout for a relevant coupon for shopping discounts.
There are many places where you can find coupons like in newspapers, special coupons websites, eCommerce sites, as well as magazines. It is not uncommon for businesses to try to push the coupons to the consumers intentionally. This is done using email, leaflets, and other types of notifications online.
The other places to find coupons are directly on the website of the manufacturers or on the product itself. With so many sources for coupons and many different businesses offering a wide range of coupons, it is quite hard to keep track of them. The secret to being able to use the right coupon at the right time is to organize them in the right manner.
This is easier to do if the coupons are digital since then they can be simply stored in a folder on your phone or computer. Those still using cutouts from papers or special printed coupons should ideally maintain a physical folder along with the expiry date to ensure they use it while they can.
See also: How to Save Time and Money with Coupon
Tips to use coupons effectively
- The most preferred type of coupon is the digital coupon in Australia; over 82% prefer it over the 18% who prefer the printed ones. The reason being the digital ones are more portable and can be used easily; besides which the number of people shopping online has increased tenfold in recent years where only digital coupons are expected.
- Social media and several other websites online are popular with eCommerce businesses for advertising coupons.
- Stores often offer a percentage-based coupon like 5%, 20%, etc. It is best not to get carried away while using these coupons and instead buy products that you originally intended to buy and use the coupons wisely. It is not uncommon for consumers to overspend while trying to reap the benefits of the coupons.
- One of the trickiest coupons is the one that is based on the amount you spend. It is not uncommon for businesses to offer coupons that are activated on spending a high amount. Such coupons often cause a psychological issue and one ends up buying more than then intended. It is best to do a little research prior to using coupons to ensure it is saving you money.
- The free gift like the buy 1 get 1 offer or buy 2 get 1 coupon are also a popular strategy used by eCommerce stores to attract more customers. Consumers can take advantage of such offers to get a good discount.
- Avoid blindly using a coupon on receiving it. It often happens that a product might be on sale and using a coupon might not be more beneficial since the discount would be applied on the maximum rate price. This is often the case when multiple products are being purchased. Using a coupon in this might mean paying more for the product.
- eCommerce stores allow you to create a wish list; you can use this feature to create a list of items you intend to buy and purchase them when they are on sale or get a good discount coupon for it.
- Online stores and walk-in ones often have special deals and offer coupons for those deals. These details might be as simple as a percentage discount or a bit complicated with several conditions and combinations of product purchases. They might require you to play some game or send some information as well. The key to avoiding an issue during the checkout process or later while waiting for cashback is to read the terms carefully and keep a copy of it if possible.
The secret to shopping smart with coupons
Many online shopping places in Australia offer discount coupons since they are highly effective in attracting more customers and boosting profits. It is not just the grocery stores that offer coupons and good deals.
Several other stores selling products like furniture items, appliances, homeware, garden, outdoor furniture, sports & fitness equipment, pet supplies, auto accessories, and homeware products also offer coupons. Thus consumers can take advantage of the coupons being offered for a wide range of products. Such stores also offer the flexibility of payment in the form of LayBuy, afterpay, PayItLater, humm, zipPay, openpay and Klarna.
Using coupons has become more user-friendly with consumers having the option to shop on their computer and smartphone. Consumers can continue to expect good offers in the form of coupons since this is a very popular marketing strategy and there happen to be many websites dedicated to coupon listing.
