In one single year, Portugal has seen coupon usage go up 40%. A sharp increase reflecting a clear shift on shoppers' behaviour, who are being more rational and price oriented in their decisions, given the dark economic situation.
I think everybody was expecting this and it is not actually a surprise - brands have actually increased their investment on price to adjust to the harsh economy. But there angles here that are worth exploiting:
- Don't dismiss brand appeal too fast. Though Distribution Owned Brands are also on the rise, the emotional feeling that "I am buying a good brand" might still be strong - it will probably depend a lot on the emotional appeal of the category and the work (hopefully good) that brands have done on differentiating themselves and build on relevant innovation. A share of consumers (and again, check it for your market and category), might be searching for good deals on positively perceived - hence the coupons.
- Consider what the text (that I am sorry but is in Portuguese) is slightly pointing at - that the way coupons are placed actually has an influence on their usage rate. Higher value and easier to use coupons will tend to have higher redemption rates than the ones where more actions are needed to use them.
But overall, this just highlights how quick market conditions might change, and how marketing is always linked to the bigger picture of economic and social situation. So, never forget details (that's where the devil is...), but always keep your eyes looking around you, always think on the individual perspective and behaviour.
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