Coupon use up 15%

Coupon use rose in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to NCH:

Coupon use rose 15 percent in the last three months of 2008, compared with the same period of 2007, said Charlie Brown, vice president of marketing at NCH, the redemption unit of Livonia, Mich.-based Valassis ...

Apparently the percentage of coupons redeemed must also be increasing, since manufacturers produced only 5% more coupons. Low redemption rates are one of the biggest complaints I usually hear from manufacturers. NCH, of course, is quick to rattle off the benefits of coupons:

Larson rattled off the grocery coupon's various effects: They draw attention to a product, lower its price for past buyers and attract new ones, generate consumer "pull" during soft sales periods, remind even nonclippers of the product's existence, create a marketing synergy benefit when coupled with in-store specials, and they limit growth of private-label competitors.