Online coupons were a breakout site category during the 2008 holiday season, and the ongoing economic downturn only helped their popularity over the past year.
comScore reported that coupon sites were the third-fastest-growing category in November 2009, with unique visits up 33% month over month to 37.5 million.
Borrell Associates expects the total value of online coupons redeemed to almost triple over the next five years, reaching $22 billion in 2014.
Borrell reported that although only 5% of coupons redeemed in 2009 were online, they represented one-fifth of the total value of coupon redemptions.
The proportion of coupons distributed through online channels was somewhat higher, and is also expected to increase in 2010.
Other research firms agree that consumers will remain thrifty after the recession, and continue to turn to more convenient options than clipping paper coupons. Yankee Group, for example, expects mobile coupon redemptions to increase dramatically in coming years. They predict nearly $2.4 billion in mobile coupon transactions by 2013, up from just $5 million in 2009.
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