Upscaling The Digital Coupon

The days of clipping coupons in the Sunday newspaper on the kitchen table appear to be fading as fast as the perception of what type of consumers care about coupons. According to the 2010 Coupons.com Digital Coupons Trends Report, more than $1.2 billion in digital coupons were issued in 2010, representing a 41% growth over the previous year. Digital coupons dramatically outpaced the much smaller 7% growth of coupons distributed in newspapers. Consumers are adopting digital coupons as part of their shopping routine, accessing them across the breadth of the digital domain, including the Web, social media, consumer electronics, mobile phones and tabletPCs. But access isn't the only thing rainmakers have noticed. Recent data supports that users of digital coupons have higher household incomes and are better educated than users of newspaper coupons, dispelling the perception that only low-income families use coupons. According to the Center For Media Research, consumers who print digital coupons have an average household income of  $105,000, 26% higher income level than the U.S. average. And 36% of those who use digital coupons have a college degree, compared to 28% of those who use newspaper coupons. Those with college degrees are almost twice as likely to have used coupons during the prior six months as those without a high school diploma. And by far the most popular product category coupon redeemed in 2010 was Cereal, followed by Yogurt. Are lean, frugal mornings another marketing trend here ?