Newspapers, Magazines, In-Store, and On-Pack coupons. Of all of these channels, FSI’s dominate distribution, controlling nearly 83 percent of all coupons. Movement away from FSI’s to alternative delivery channels has been slow and puzzling given the nearly decade long stagnation in consumer redemption of coupons. What are manufacturers and the retail trade doing to stimulate consumer interest in the future? II.TRADITIONAL COUPON DELIVERYTypically, FSI’s are the large inserts in the Sunday newspaper, and are the primary method used to get coupons into the hands of consumers. There are many problems with using FSI’s with today’s consumer. Consumers have less time to scan the growing numbers of coupons in FSI’s, they have less time to organize and collate the coupons when making out grocery lists and less time to redeem the coupons while in the checkout line. With more working women, there are fewer women in the traditional family role at home; these women were traditionally the heaviest users of coupons. The United States has not seen a severe economic down turn in the past decade or more, which reduces consumer coupon redemption now, but also will impact the way today’s children, tomorrow’s consumers, use coupons.FSI’s do not target the specific demographics for the type of consumer a manufacturer wants to reach with its coupons. Research has shown the manufacturer is rewarding current users of its products, and not attracting new users or even new trials of the manufacturers products. The same problems which plague FSI’s also apply to a lesser degree to Direct Mail and In-Ad coupons. There is no way to reach only consumers who have never used a particular product or brand. All the while fewer and fewer consumers are clipping coupons.Point-of-Purchase (“POP”) coupons, like the dispensers on store shelves, are much more attractive to consumers. POP coupon...
