A recent research conducted by service company Valassis focused on how much coupon use among consumers has grown in the last 12 months.

Result of the research showed that a majority of consumers, about 61% of those who were involved in the survey, have already used, and are currently using coupons for their grocery purchases. Compared to last year’s survey, which showed that 52% of consumers were using coupons for their purchases, this is definitely a considerable increase.

The research also showed that consumers who do use coupons, 37%, are also actively searching for more promotional deals. This is again significantly greater, when compared to last years percentage, which was 28%.

The public’s perception of couponing has undergone a complete turnaround. Previously, it was perceived that people who used coupons were the ones belonging to the unemployed or the lower class. Nowadays, even people from well off households also use coupons for their groceries.

On the part of manufacturing companies, the research showed that more and more retailers and brands are putting their promotion investments on coupons. Redemption rates for coupons have also increased, as compared to the redemption rate last year.

It is said that how products are being promoted also reflect the kind of economic situation a country is in. This is somewhat true because consumers only thought about trying promotional coupons seriously when the country started to experience economic problems. Consumer goods companies also started to introduce more products using coupons because of how increasingly popular it has become.