Printing Coupons: The Age of Online Promotions

Online marketers have picked up where traditional Sunday paper coupons left off. It appears that the days of clipping coupons has transformed into printing coupons instead. In 2003 alone, online coupon presence increased 325 percent and redemption rates reaching 134 percent in the same year. The upward trend continues to increase.

One example of this trend is the popular warehouse Web site Overstock.com, in which the retailer promotes weekly discounts to visitors who have made previous purchases on the site. To grab the attention of prospective customers, Overstock extends special “free shipping” coupons and validation codes seasonally.

Print-at-home coupons are usually obtained via a registry of sorts and with a few clicks coupons can be sent directly to your printer. If past statistics are any indication of future trends, the online coupon is yet another advancement in favor of interactive marketing and can be tied as unique addition to an online promotion or loyalty program.