Report: Americans using fewer coupons

In the past year the use of coupons has dropped. A recent report showed that consumers aren’t as satisfied with coupons as they used to be.

According to Time magazine, the reason isn’t because people have become richer, or because there are fewer coupons around, but because consumers can’t find coupons for the specific products they want to buy.

While coupons for necessities are scarce, there is an abundance of coupons for everything else. According to Time:

“Coupons are available nowadays for everything from clothing to restaurant meals. Still, for obvious reasons, consumers tend to be most likely to use coupons on household essentials — namely, groceries. And guess what? The number of coupons for food decreased by 6.5% last year, according to (NCH Marketing Services). At the same time, there was an increase in coupons for goods that consumers are less likely to need on a weekly basis (various “non-food categories” like deodorants and cough remedies), or even be tempted to buy, including more coupons for new products featuring brands that shoppers haven’t heard of.”

While the number of food coupons has decreased, those that still exist have dropped in face value.

Unless coupons become more conventional to what shoppers need, their use will continue to decline.