Burst Online Insights
Current Research You Can Use
Women Depend on the Internet to Spend and to Save
Coupons are a very powerful and flexible marketing tool. They benefit manufacturers by increasing sales, retailers by bringing in more customers, and consumers by offering great bargains. To better understand consumers' use of coupons, Burst recently surveyed more than 4,500 women 18 years or older about their current use of the Internet for household purchases and their penchant for web coupons.
Insight #1: Women Use the Internet to Manage Their Households
The Internet Helps Households Run Smoothly
The Internet is the primary means by which women conduct many daily activities. In fact, 69.4% of women cite the Internet as the primary source for information to keep their household running with information on family activities, recipes, health news, and entertainment listings. The Internet is also the primary vehicle (62.3%) that women use to research products or services they may purchase. Half (51.7%) of the women surveyed cite the Internet as the primary way to keep in contact with family and friends. Interestingly, 70.8% of women 65 years or older say the Internet is the primary way they keep in touch with family and friends (see Table 1).
Women Depend on In-Store Displays and the Internet for Product Information; Internet Top Source for Travel
Consumers turn to a number of information sources before making a product or service purchase, such as in-store displays, newspapers, magazines, and the Internet. The information resource they consider the best depends on the product category being researched.
The Internet is cited by three out of four (74.1%) women as the best place to research travel information such as airline tickets and hotel reservations. This finding is consistent among all age segments. The Internet and in-store displays are the top source for information on health and beauty products – 29.2% and 28.2%, respectively. In-store displays are cited as the top information source for adult apparel (38.2%) – followed closely by the Internet (30.4%). In-store displays are also cited as the top source of information for children's apparel (45.7%) – again followed by the Internet (22.1%). The top three information sources for food and groceries are in-store displays (35.3%), newspapers and magazines (30.7%) and the Internet (13.2%).
Insight #2: Coupon Use - Online and Offline - Is On the Rise
Most Households Use Coupons at Least Occasionally
Survey respondents were asked about their use of coupons (online or offline) when shopping. Respondents were segmented into frequent coupon users, occasional coupon users, and non-users of coupons. One-third (32.4%) of women are frequent coupon users, 54.3% are occasional coupon users, and 13.3% are non-users of coupons. Groceries are the most popular items to redeem coupons for when purchasing – 77.9% of respondents who use coupons say they have done so. Coupon use for other product categories varies; beauty products (57.7%), health care products (57.3%), fast food (47.7%), clothing/shoes (41.4%), non-fast food restaurants (39.6%), books and music (33.4%), toys (23.8%), electronic equipment (23.0%), and computer equipment/software (22.5%).
Use of Coupons increases with Age and Household Size
All age segments use coupons – however, the frequency of use increases with respondent's age. The percentage that frequently use coupons while shopping increases from 21.2% of respondents 18-24 years to 40.6% of respondents 65 years and older (see Chart 1). A surprising finding was the consistent frequency of coupon use by household size (HHS) segments. Nearly one-third (30.7%) of household with one or two members are frequent users of coupons while shopping – compared to 33.8% with a HHS of three or four members, and 35.7% of five or more.
The Economy is Adding To The Use of Coupons
One-third (34.0%) of respondents are using coupons more frequently today than they were six months ago. This finding is consistent among age, household size, and income segments. Among frequent coupon users, more than one-half (54.9%) say they have increased their use of coupons, and among occasional coupon users, one-fifth (21.6%) are using coupons more frequently.
The Use of the Internet As a Source For Coupons Has Soared
The Internet has seen significant growth as the primary source of coupons – increasing from a 3.8% reading in 2002 to 16.0% today. The Sunday newspaper is still the primary source of coupons for 29.2% of respondents – but that is down from a 35.3% reading in 2002. Other media cited as a respondents' primary source of coupons include in-store circulars (14.9%), mail packs/direct mail (13.5%), weekday newspapers (8.3%), in-store dispensers (5.4%) and magazines (2.2%).
Internet Coupons Get Consumer's Attention
More than two-thirds of respondents (69.4%) say they would print and redeem an Internet coupon for a product they would be interested in purchasing. Three-quarters (75.2%) of women 35-54 years would print and redeem an Internet coupon – this compares to 62.2% of women 18-34 years and 67.7% of women 55 years and older. Among all respondents, 43.0% say they are more likely to redeem and print an Internet coupon today then they were six months ago.
How You Can Use This Information
Impact on Advertisers: Target Coupons To The Most Likely Buyers and Switchers
The advantage of Internet coupons over their paper counterparts is that advertisers can more finely target their offers – whether through content, geographic or even behavioral targeting. Additionally, the immediacy and targeting capabilities of the Internet allow marketers to run last minute promotions, react to changing market conditions, and target consumers who have shown a previous interest in their product.
Impact on Advertisers and Publishers: Make Use of New Creative Options
Use rich media and other delivery options that provide consumers with a hassle-free experience of printing coupons and promotions directly from a banner ad or sending special promotional offers to their email addresses for future use. Also consider creative that can launch mini-sites where consumers can learn about other products and services, receive helpful advice or obtain additional discounts, helping to create strong brand identity and company loyalty. Publishers should adopt ways to print coupons with recipes, reviews, or other articles for consumer to use when they head to the store to buy.
Uncluttered Quality Sites in Burst's Networks
All sites added to Burst's networks are subject to a rigorous screening process. Burst also audits network sites several times a year to ensure they continue to meet our standards. Our continuous review guarantees your advertising message is placed in a high quality content environment, and receives the maximum exposure it deserves. Here are three sites from Burst's Shopping channel that attract a predominantly female audience in a quality branding environment:
About Burst Media
An online media and technology company founded in 1995, Burst Media (www.BurstMedia.com) is a leading provider of advertising representation, services and technology to independent Web Publishers. Burst Media enables advertisers to reach finely segmented, engaged consumers as they visit Burst's extensive number of interest-based sub-channels. Through its Burst Network and Burst Direct units, the company represents one of the broadest and deepest offerings of interest-based websites online. Burst also markets its ad management platform, adConductor™, which empowers content websites, online ad networks, and web portals to manage the complete process of ad sales and service. Burst Media is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, with offices throughout the United States and in London, UK. For more information, visit www.BurstMedia.com or call 781.272.5544.
About Online Insights
Trends in Internet use and consumers' online purchasing behaviors are constantly evolving and often difficult to detect. That's why Burst Media publishes Online Insights – our monthly newsletter that highlights emerging trends in online media and eCommerce. Findings reported in Online Insights are based on an online survey fielded across its Network of more than 4,700 web sites. Data from the survey is weighted based on age and gender to ensure findings are representative of the US internet audience.
