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No More RetailMeNot Everyday Coupon Inserts: Company Sale Prompts Another Rebrand

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Your Sunday newspaper soon won’t have RetailMeNot Everyday coupon inserts anymore – but don’t panic. The parent company of the insert publisher has agreed to a sale of the RetailMeNot coupon code site, which means the coupon insert named for its corporate cousin will be undergoing another rebrand.

As expected, following media reports earlier this month that business mogul Ronald Perelman was looking to sell off many of his assets, Perelman-owned Vericast has announced the sale of RetailMeNot. So Perelman-owned Valassis, which had renamed its RedPlum coupon inserts RetailMeNot Everyday in a bit of corporate synergy, is planning another name change, lest its inserts be named for what will soon be someone else’s company.

The new owner of RetailMeNot will be J2 Global, which owns online publishers like PCMag and Mashable, and shopping and savings sites including Offers.com and BlackFriday.com. And you can’t say J2 Global doesn’t know discounts, because it got a huge discount of its own by purchasing RetailMeNot for $420 million – one-third off the $630 million that Perelman paid for it just three and a half years ago.

“We are excited at the prospect of adding RetailMeNot, and their talented employees, to our portfolio of brands dedicated to helping consumers save money and find deals,” J2 Global CEO Vivek Shah said in a statement. A company spokesperson declined to comment on any specific plans for the coupon code site, at least until the sale is finalized in the coming months.

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So where does this leave Valassis and its RetailMeNot Everyday coupon insert? Looking for a new name. “With the news of Vericast entering into an agreement to sell the RetailMeNot business, we at Valassis will have the exciting opportunity to rebrand our fully owned Valassis products and plan to do so in 2021,” Valassis Chief Marketing Officer Michelle Engle said in a statement to Coupons in the News. “The rebranding includes our RetailMeNot Everyday solutions which capture the power of the deals and coupons our products deliver and ultimately provide an even stronger offering for both our clients and consumers.”

While its coupon offers have remained relatively consistent, Valassis is no stranger to name changes. It first introduced the RedPlum brand in 2008 as a way to unify its various offerings. “All of our products now feature this brand name,” Valassis’ then-CEO Alan Schultz said at the time, “and consumers will begin to recognize the single trusted source of value.”

But that focus on a single, unified brand name didn’t last too long, as Valassis began tinkering with RedPlum in a bid for synergy with other company-owned properties. In 2013, it tried to join forces with Valassis-owned Save.com by redirecting RedPlum.com visitors to Save.com/Coupons, only to reverse the redirect later that year. And in 2018, after Valassis’ parent company bought RetailMeNot, Valassis underwent another name change in recognition of a corporate cousin, retiring the RedPlum name altogether in favor of RetailMeNot Everyday.

Now, the decoupling of Valassis and RetailMeNot means Valassis’ coupon offerings are in for another rebrand. But at least Valassis has a positive outlook about the impending change. “This is an exciting time for Valassis and we are committed to providing the valuable product offerings we know consumers eagerly anticipate each week,” Engle said.

So watch for your RetailMeNot Everyday coupon inserts to get a new name and a new look in the coming months. Ultimately, during this time of economic uncertainty, what matters is that the coupons will keep coming as they always have – regardless of what they’re called.


One Of Your Coupon Inserts Gets a New Look And a New Name

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As expected, the RetailMeNot Everyday coupon inserts will be renamed in the coming weeks, now that parent company Vericast doesn’t own RetailMeNot anymore. But rather than returning to the earlier RedPlum name, the company is reaching further into its past to resurrect and refresh an even earlier brand name.

Vericast, the parent company of insert publisher Valassis, has announced that the RetailMeNot Everyday insert will be rebranded effective February 24th. Its new name? The short, simple, direct and to-the-point “Save.”

“We are excited about the launch of Save, as it is such an important and valuable way for brands to connect with consumers and showcase new products and offers,” Vericast Senior Vice President of Marketing Carrie Parker said in a statement.

Vericast also plans to relaunch the website Save.com, which “will include the Coupon Book Finder (highlighting where consumers can find their FSI based on their address), Direct Mail Preferences (where consumers can opt-out of receiving our direct mail package), links to our social media accounts, consumer-focused FAQs, and our Privacy Policy, as well as an email form to join our mailing list and be notified when new and exciting campaigns or offers are available,” Parker told Coupons in the News. “The team is currently investigating additional functionality and valuable content for consumers that we will add in the future.”

The name change became a necessity after Vericast sold the online coupon code site RetailMeNot last fall. It had acquired the company just a few years before, and retired its decade-old RedPlum brand in favor of the more synergistic name RetailMeNot Everyday. But the sale of RetailMeNot left the company in the awkward position of publishing and distributing coupon inserts named after someone else’s brand.

So the company turned to a name it already owned, the dormant but perfectly practicable Save.

Save.com has been around in one form or another, off and on, for more than two decades. It launched way back in 1999 as Valassis’ first foray into printable coupons. But Valassis pulled the plug a couple of years later, saying there simply wasn’t enough interest at the time from advertisers. Valassis retained the domain name, however, eventually reintroducing printable coupons to the site when it launched its new RedPlum brand in 2008. The company re-reintroduced Save.com as a coupon code site in 2010, then re-re-reintroduced Save.com as a printable coupon destination once again, going so far as to redirect all of its RedPlum.com traffic to the site – only to reverse the move less than a year later, after which Save.com went dormant yet again.

Now that RedPlum and RetailMeNot Everyday have been retired, Save.com has been re-re-re-reintroduced (give or take a “re-” or two) as the new home for the company’s coupon business. Vericast stopped offering printable and digital coupons under the RedPlum name last year, and coupon codes now reside on the main RetailMeNot site, run by its new owners. So “Save.com will not feature offers or coupons” upon its launch, Parker said. But the website is teasing “new and exciting online offers coming soon.”

To help introduce the new Save branding, the last couple of RetailMeNot Everyday inserts will highlight the upcoming change on the front pages of the February 14th and 21st editions, with the following week’s edition featuring the brand new look.

Vericast is using the occasion of the coupon insert rebrand to issue a vote of confidence in the format, which some have argued is declining in reach and importance. But Vericast says its inserts reach more than 75 million households, and its research shows that 85% of recipients read them. “The launch of this new brand delivers the opportunity for discovery and deals, especially in economically trying times,” the company said.

According to its 2021 insert schedule, RetailMeNot Everyday, aka Save, will publish on 43 weeks out of the year, in addition to distributing occasional Unilever Super Saver inserts. That schedule is expected to remain as is. So change isn’t always welcome, but in this case, there’s no reason to worry. The savings will keep on coming – no matter the name on the front of the insert.

Shoppers Are “Excited” to Use Coupons Again

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What are you most looking forward to, once life returns to normal? Going on a vacation, attending a crowded concert or sporting event – or going shopping with lots of coupons?

A new survey says shoppers are “excited” at the prospect of saving money again, and coupons could be just what it takes for brands and retailers to get people into stores and shopping again.

Vericast, the publisher of the Save coupon inserts, says its findings show that “coupons and discounts are accelerating consumers’ return to pre-pandemic activities.” 64% of those participating in a recent survey said coupons or discounts would encourage them to get out of the house this summer, to eat out at a restaurant, to buy supplies to host a barbecue, or to go see a movie in a theater. And nearly three-quarters say they expect to use coupons in the coming months when going grocery shopping.

“Deals are central to summer events,” Vericast declared, noting that more than a third of shoppers expect to seek out coupons or discounts to celebrate upcoming holidays this year that were far less celebratory last year, like Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day.

And it’s not just because shoppers are looking for some fun this summer. It’s because the very act of saving money apparently gives them a thrill. 43% of survey respondents said they feel “excited” when they save money using a coupon or discount, a percentage that rises to 59% among younger shoppers aged 25-34.

“Now more than ever, consumers are placing an increased value on discounts and savings as they look to return to normalcy,” Vericast Senior Director of Brand Marketing Sarah O’Grady said in a statement.

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Vericast’s findings are in line with previous surveys that found shoppers who were tired of quarantining and searching for dwindling deals were ready to start couponing and saving again. Last month, the retail analytics company dunnhumby found that shoppers who had been shopping infrequently and getting what they needed as fast as possible, “are beginning to feel noticeably better about personal finances and are now prioritizing value over speed when they shop.”

Back in December, Inmar Intelligence found that more than 80% of shoppers surveyed said they were actively looking harder for grocery coupons and promotions, with nearly 60% saying they shop more frequently at stores that offer better deals, and less frequently at those that don’t. And a recent followup survey found that 32% of grocery shoppers expect their coupon use to increase in the next six months, with 79% saying they regularly look for coupons before going grocery shopping.

Of course, whether it’s retail consultant dunnhumby, coupon processor Inmar Intelligence or coupon publisher Vericast, it’s in these companies’ interest to encourage brands and retailers to offer more coupons. Vericast subsidiary Valassis used to conduct its own annual “Purse String Survey” that highlighted shoppers’ interest in coupons, to help promote the industry during “National Coupon Month” each September. But as the industry’s interest in National Coupon Month waned, the annual survey faded away after the 2018 edition. And as Valassis’ parent company Vericast began giving itself top billing over Valassis for anything coupon-related, this new survey appears to be something of a reboot of the Purse String Survey, timed to a much more important event – the hoped-for end of the coronavirus pandemic.

Regardless, there’s no denying from the survey findings that shoppers really do like savings – and Vericast says businesses that respond to that desire, will find that doing so is good for business. 83% of the people it surveyed said they have made at least one purchase over the last six months, directly because of a coupon or discount.

“Heading into the summer months,” O’Grady said, “there is a significant opportunity for businesses to acquire new customers and strengthen relationships with current ones by delivering relevant offers for the products and experiences consumers want right now.”

So if you’re planning to get out of the house some more this spring and summer, keep an eye out for deals. If businesses that have been stingy with the coupons and savings take Vericast’s advice and change their behavior – then the ability to get out and about more, won’t be the only sign that life is returning to normal.

Image source: Valassis

Coupon Titans Square Off in Court Once Again

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15 years and $500 million later, two of the biggest names in coupons are once again facing off in a federal courtroom. At stake in their latest dispute is the lucrative market of in-store coupons and ads that appear in tens of thousands of retail stores across the country.

Valassis publishes the Save coupon inserts, while News Corp. is the former owner of SmartSource publisher News America Marketing. But this dispute isn’t about coupon inserts. Valassis is finally getting its day in court, nearly eight years after filing suit against News America, accusing it of anticompetitive business practices that allowed it to maintain a monopoly on shelf displays, “blinkie” coupon dispensers, floor decals and other in-store promotions that you’re likely to see just about any time you shop in a store near you.

More than a decade ago, Valassis attempted to compete with News America by launching in-store promotions of its own. It offered brands and retailers an alternative version of News America’s shelf ads, coupon dispensers and floor graphics, along with its own unique promotions like on-shelf sample dispensers and coupons attached to weight-scale labels at the deli counter (as in the images seen above, which it used in its marketing material at the time).

But by 2013, Valassis gave up and exited the in-store promotions business, leaving it all to News America, after concluding that it couldn’t compete with the strong-arm tactics it says News America was using to keep retailers and manufacturers from switching to Valassis. So later that year, it took News America to court.

“Their whole monopolistic scheme was about preventing any competitor from coming in and getting access to enough retail stores,” Valassis attorney Michael Shuster told the jury during opening statements, as the trial got under way in New York yesterday.

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Shuster said News America entered into long-term contracts with retailers and manufacturers, with staggered expiration dates, so some would expire one year, some the next, and some the next. The goal, he said, was to make it more difficult for a competitor to step in – Valassis contracted with a few retailers, including Supervalu, A&P, Winn-Dixie and Rite Aid, but “it wasn’t enough for Valassis to get to critical mass.” Most other retailers said they were already “tied up under exclusive contracts with News,” and without enough retailers in its network, Shuster said Valassis couldn’t get enough manufacturers interested in buying ads or offering coupons.

“These product manufacturers were also tied up in long-term contracts with News,” Shuster said. “So Valassis was getting squeezed from both sides.” In short, he told the jury, “when Valassis tried to start building its network, it ran into a brick wall,” so in 2013, “Valassis had to make the painful decision to exit the market and cut its losses.”

News America countered that Valassis’ lawsuit is just sour grapes. By its own admission, Valassis signed several retailers right out of the gate, News America attorney Ken Gallo told the jury. But when News America stepped up its game to compete against its new in-store advertising challenger, Valassis threw in the towel and blamed News America for its failure.

“Valassis is making excuses,” Gallo said. “No one stopped them or deterred them from entering (the market). They entered and they succeeded” – initially. But “News America responded by competing harder,” paying its retail customers more money for the right to place its ads in their stores. “There is nothing illegal about the retailer payments,” Gallo said. “This case is about business choices. Valassis chose not to invest in retailer contracts. NAM did.”

The current conflict grew out of a related legal dispute that dates all the way back to 2006. That’s when Valassis first sued News America, accusing it of using its dominant position in offering in-store promotions to pressure its manufacturer clients into offering coupons in the SmartSource Sunday coupon inserts instead of in Valassis’ inserts. News America eventually paid $500 million to settle that case.

But Valassis sued again in 2013, claiming that News America hadn’t changed its anticompetitive tactics even after the settlement. The judge in the case dismissed the insert-related claims two years ago, but allowed the dispute over the in-store ads to go to trial, which is where the two sides find themselves today.

A lot has changed since the two companies first squared off in court. Valassis came under new ownership shortly after suing for the second time, and News Corp. doesn’t even own News America Marketing anymore – it sold off the coupon-and-promotions business last year, but agreed to see the Valassis case through to the end.

Incidentally, Gallo argued, Valassis could have used that $500 million it got in the settlement with News America to invest in its efforts and better compete in the in-store promotions business. Instead, he said, “Valassis took $500 million out of the company in the form of stock buybacks and dividends, and they gave it to the shareholders.”

“Valassis committed substantial resources… over $100 million to the effort” to launch its in-store promotions business, Shuster countered. The company suffered millions of dollars a year in losses while trying to get the business off the ground, and eventually gave up because of News America’s “plan to exclude competition, a plan that targeted competitors.” Today, he said, only News America – and no one else – has the “exclusive right to place these ads in a nationwide network of retail stores – over 50,000 retail stores in the United States” – and if that’s not a monopoly, what is?

Valassis is seeking “an amount exceeding $200 million” from News America. Once both sides complete their arguments, in a case that’s expected to last for several weeks, it will be up to a jury to decide precisely how this long-running, costly dispute on how best to offer you coupons and promotions as you shop, finally comes to an end.

Coupon Titans Settle Multimillion-Dollar Dispute – Again

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After weeks of testimony and years of animosity, the latest legal dispute between two major coupon and promotion companies has come to a somewhat anticlimactic end.

Valassis, which publishes the Save coupon inserts, has agreed to settle its $200 million antitrust lawsuit against News Corp, the former owner of SmartSource publisher News America Marketing, after a federal jury deadlocked and was unable to reach a verdict following several days of deliberations.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. “We are pleased that we have reached an amicable settlement,” a News Corp spokesman told Coupons in the News in a short statement. Valassis declined to comment.

Valassis had argued that News America had cornered the in-store promotions business, using anticompetitive pricing practices to lock retailers into displaying SmartSource-branded “blinkie” coupon dispensers, shelf displays, floor decals, shopping cart ads and other in-store promotions, thereby preventing any competitors from gaining a foothold in the business.

Federal antitrust laws “prohibit a company with power over the market from using that power to exclude its competitors,” Valassis attorney Michael Shuster told the jury. Yet News America had set up a scenario where “only News has a now-exclusive right to place these ads in a nationwide network of retail stores – over 50,000 retail stores in the United States.” And with no other company able to compete, that means retailers and brands have no choice but to work with News America for in-store promotions, and shoppers get little variety in the promotions they’re offered.

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Valassis entered the in-store promotions market back in 2009, with coupons and ads of its own. But it exited the market a few years later, after concluding that it would never be able to attract enough clients to succeed. “And now Valassis is making excuses,” News America attorney Ken Gallo told the jury. There was nothing untoward about the fact that more clients chose to stick with News America instead of switching to Valassis, Gallo said. “Antitrust laws do not get to decide who wins the competition. The customers get to decide.”

The trial began three weeks ago, and the jury got the case last week. But jurors failed to reach a verdict after three days of deliberations, and over the weekend, they were told their services were no longer required as both parties informed the court they had reached a settlement. Aside from noting that each party agreed to assume responsibility for its own attorneys’ fees and costs, no mention was made of any financial consideration that may have been part of the settlement.

News America has already paid close to a billion dollars to settle various interrelated legal disputes over the past 17 years. In-store competitors Floorgraphics and Insignia filed separate antitrust lawsuits in 2004, which News America settled for $29.5 million and $125 million, respectively. Valassis first sued News America in 2006, accusing it of trying to monopolize the Sunday coupon insert business, in a case that News America ultimately settled for $500 million (after which Valassis sued again in 2013). And several brands joined together to sue News America in 2013, accusing it of using monopolistic powers to overcharge them for running their ads and offering their coupons, which News America agreed to settle for $280 million.

That’s $934,500,000 if you’re keeping score. And that doesn’t include whatever payment may have been part of the agreement to settle the just-concluded Valassis case, nor does it take into consideration a second lawsuit, still pending, that Insignia filed in 2019.

What’s also not known, is whether News America agreed to change any of its business tactics as a result of the Valassis settlement. That would be difficult to do, since News America Marketing essentially doesn’t exist anymore – the company was sold and renamed last year, but News Corp retained responsibility for resolving the Valassis and Insignia disputes.

So whether Valassis received a financial windfall, the ability to get back into the in-store marketing business, both, or neither, will remain unknown for now. With this long-running dispute now resolved, though, and News America under new ownership, this was likely the last battle in this particular clash of the coupon titans. But one thing many never change: the fight for the right to provide you with promotions and coupons is big business – and will likely remain as competitive as ever.

A New Twist In the Digital vs. Paper Coupons Debate: It Doesn’t Matter

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Many in the coupon industry have been promoting the benefits of digital coupons, claiming that shoppers prefer them. Many couponers who feel otherwise claim that manufacturers are the ones who prefer digital and are just trying to force shoppers to feel the same. So what type of coupons do most people really prefer?

Either. Or neither. Turns out it doesn’t really matter – because a new survey finds that shoppers will go where the deals are best, no matter the format.

That’s what Valassis discovered in its latest annual survey on consumer behavior. The 2021 Consumer Intel Report found that the best coupon is simply the one that saves you the most. “Our data shows consumers choose physical or digital coupons based on the best deal, not the platform,” the report noted.

So digital coupons may be more convenient, more secure and, lately, more popular. But given the choice between a 50-cent digital coupon and a $1 paper coupon – for most shoppers, there’s no contest.

Young people and parents in particular are more likely than most to seek out paper coupons from places like the mail and the newspaper. “But overall use for all these formats is high across all generations,” the report notes.

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And so is the use of digital coupons. 71% of consumers use digital coupons, with millennial parents the most likely to do so, at 93%.

So shoppers are willing to look for deals just about anywhere, “choosing coupons not by medium but by value and ease of use,” the report found. For marketers, then, “an omnichannel approach is still completely necessary.”

Overall, 71% of survey respondents said saving money by using coupons and discounts is the most important thing when going grocery shopping. 82% said going to a store with the lowest prices is even more important.

No matter how shoppers choose to save, Valassis noticed “a significant increase in price consciousness,” especially this past year. Nearly three out of four shoppers said they increased their saving behaviors during the coronavirus pandemic, with the vast majority planning to continue doing so.

Aside from a renewed interest in saving money, though, many other shopping routines disrupted during the pandemic have started returning to normal. The report found that online grocery shopping, for example, has already peaked and has just about gone back to pre-pandemic levels. And more than half of those who have been fully vaccinated say they’re comfortable shopping in stores again.

It was very early in the pandemic when some stores went so far as to quit accepting paper coupons, prompting some to predict that this was digital coupons’ moment to take over for good. Digital coupons have indeed become more popular, but Valassis cautions that it doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. “We haven’t seen the end of the paper coupon,” Valassis says. “Many consumers prefer both digital and paper formats so they don’t miss savings.”

So no need to debate over whether paper is better, or doomed to extinction. Because in the end, it’s the money that matters. “Challenging economic conditions mean consumers will gravitate toward brands offering deals and discounts,” the report concludes. “And the best deal will win” – no matter how it’s delivered.

Marketers Fail to Meet “Heightened Demand For Coupons”

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Which came first, the chicken or the egg? As both coupon distribution and redemption have been declining in recent years, the question is whether marketers are issuing fewer coupons because shoppers are less interested in using them, or whether shoppers are using fewer coupons because marketers aren’t issuing as many anymore?

Valassis has looked at the numbers and concluded the latter is true. Shoppers have “a heightened desire for readily available coupon savings,” the company says. But marketers are failing to meet the moment by issuing the number and variety of coupons that shoppers demand.

Citing figures from its corporate sibling NCH Marketing, Valassis recently reported that 95 billion coupons were issued in the first half of 2021, down 10.8% from the same time last year. The number of coupons redeemed has declined as well, down 7.9% to 465 million.

The first half of last year was a bad time for coupons, of course, as couponing was not exactly top of mind while we were in the thick of the coronavirus pandemic. But, global health emergency or not, distribution and redemption figures have been declining for years. And at this rate, they’re both on pace to finish out the year at the lowest point in decades.

So Valassis says it’s time for marketers to step it up.

Redemption figures declined at a slower rate than distribution figures, and redemption was actually up in the second quarter of this year as compared to the same time last year. That raises “questions about whether marketers are doing enough to align to those consumer expectations,” Valassis says. While “marketers significantly reduced the number of grocery coupons they made available during the first half of 2021, consumers showed strong demand for whatever coupon savings they could find.”

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Valassis cites two important reasons that interest in coupons is perking up. The first reason is that conditions for using coupons have finally improved. As panic buying and out-of-stocks have dissipated, “shoppers now have more access to the products they need and the brands they prefer.” And with a majority of people in a recent Valassis survey saying they feel more optimistic about their health, they’re more willing to venture back into stores.

The second reason is that many shoppers need savings now more than ever. Nearly half of the shoppers surveyed said their household income was negatively impacted as a result of the pandemic. Nearly three-quarters said they increased their saving behaviors last year, with 82% planning to continue those behaviors. “In short,” Valassis says, “consumers are looking for good deals.”

And while the quality of deals is improving, the quantity is not. The average face value of coupons is up 9.3% to $2.58 per coupon, and the average time to redeem an offer is up 5.4%, to 5.9 weeks.

But those figures are only good if you can find a coupon for the products you want to buy. The only coupon formats to see an increase in distribution so far this year are digital and, surprisingly, print-at-home coupons, which have seen better days. All other coupon formats saw declines in the number of offers made available. As for coupon redemption, digital and direct mail saw increases, with all other formats declining – but overall, the demand for coupons was greater than the available supply.

The bottom line, Valassis concludes, is that marketers “are at a critical juncture. They can continue, as some have done, to disregard the expectations of their consumers. Or, they can align themselves more fully to demands for readily and conveniently available coupon savings.”

Each year, it seems coupon distribution and redemption can’t possibly fall any further, and it’s only a matter of time before we hit bottom and start to bounce back. But that hasn’t happened yet. “Any business that consistently fails to meet its customers’ needs won’t survive long,” Valassis warns ominously. So brands may want to heed Valassis’ advice and start issuing more coupons – or risk losing their customers to other brands that do.

Image source: Valassis

The Year In Coupons: The Top Stories of 2021

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Coupons in the News will mark its tenth anniversary in the coming year. And how things have changed! This tenth annual look at the year gone by is quite different from the first, which was published back in 2012, and included stories about things that don’t really happen anymore, like major printable coupon campaigns, price matching at Walmart, and a big counterfeit coupon bust in Phoenix.

Actually, about that Phoenix counterfeit case – that nearly decade-old incident actually took on new relevance this year, in a way few could have expected back then. As a result, one of the top stories of 2012 was again one of the top stories this year.

So before we welcome 2022, it’s time to take a look back at what made news, what affected our lives and what impacted the coupon industry in 2021:

10. Stores cut back on coupons

The year wasn’t a great one for coupon fans who discovered a couple of their favorite stores would rather they didn’t use coupons there anymore. In January, the craft chain Hobby Lobby announced it would be discontinuing its popular weekly “40% off one item at regular price” coupon. The official explanation was that doing so allowed the retailer to “intensify our efforts to discount thousands of items every day… instead of providing a discount on only one item with the coupon.”

The truth, which Coupons in the News exclusively revealed but Hobby Lobby never admitted, was that Hobby Lobby was compelled to withdraw the coupon as part of a court-approved settlement in a long-running legal dispute. The court approved new coupon phrasing that would clear the way for Hobby Lobby to reintroduce the coupon if it chooses to. So far, though, it hasn’t.

Meantime, couponers who frequented Sprouts Farmers Market found that they weren’t welcome there anymore. The natural and organic grocery chain’s CEO sniffed that “those coupon clippers” are no longer Sprouts’ preferred customers, as they’d rather cater to shoppers who appreciate their quality and everyday prices. “The coupon clippers,” Jack Sinclair explained, “were interested in very low pricing” but they were “the wrong people coming into these doors.”

Turns out the new strategy didn’t bring enough of the “right people” into Sprouts’ doors, either, as sales suffered dramatically. “We believe it will go in the opposite direction if we can get our marketing right and our execution right,” the company’s Chief Financial Officer said last month. Just don’t look to “those coupon clippers” to help them turn things around.

9. Everything’s a dollar (and a quarter)

If you bring a bunch of $1 coupons to Dollar Tree, you won’t get a bunch of stuff for free anymore. Dollar Tree gave into inflationary reality – or threw away the greatest thing it had going for it, depending on whom you ask – by announcing it would raise most prices throughout the store from $1 to $1.25 in the new year.

The retailer said initial tests of the new prices had customers “excited” about “the additional offerings and extreme value we will be able to provide.” But many shoppers and retail analysts aren’t so sure. The move “could be one of the worst decisions made in retail in the last 50 years,” retail analyst Scott Mushkin said, on par with the legendarily disastrous introduction of “New Coke.”

Shortly after the pricing announcement, an activist investor group proposed replacing Dollar Tree’s entire board of directors, and hiring the former CEO of Dollar General. So new prices at Dollar Tree may end up being just the first of many more changes yet to come.

8. One coupon conflict finally ends…

It was a behind-the-scenes battle that didn’t necessarily directly affect couponers. But it was noteworthy nonetheless, in that it pitted two of the biggest coupon companies against each other, off and on, for the past 15 years.

Valassis and News Corp, respectively the owners and publishers of the Save and SmartSource coupon inserts when their dispute began, agreed to settle Valassis’ $200 million antitrust lawsuit against News Corp, after an inconclusive jury trial in which Valassis argued that its rival illegally dominated the in-store promotions business, monopolizing the space with SmartSource-branded “blinkie” coupon dispensers, shelf displays, floor decals, shopping cart ads and other in-store promotions.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, though the closest News Corp came to offering details was in a recent regulatory filing, in which the company revealed that it spent $65 million in the third quarter on “higher employee bonus and equity-based compensation payments (and) payments related to one-time legal settlement costs.” So depending on how big News Corp employee bonuses were, Valassis may have earned an eight-figure payout. What’s not known is whether the settlement also allowed for greater competition in stores, which could open the way for other companies to offer their own in-store coupons and promotions. Regardless, after 15 years of litigation, it seems this long-running dispute may finally be over – for good.

7. …As new coupon conflicts begin

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While those coupon companies’ troubles may have been resolved, another coupon company is facing new troubles of its own. Coupons.com owner Quotient Technology is branching out from its legacy printable coupons, going all-in on digital and famously predicting the demise of paper coupons. But it’s been a somewhat rocky transition.

First, Quotient’s competitor Catalina sued, accusing the company of poaching Catalina’s retail checkout coupon clients with a checkout coupon program of its own, in which coupons were printed at the bottom of shoppers’ receipts. Quotient had high hopes for that program, signing up Albertsons and teasing that “a major chain drug retailer” would be next to offer the checkout coupons. But the Albertsons partnership came to an abrupt end, and the drug store deal never materialized.

On top of it all, a major investor is now pushing for changes, criticizing Quotient’s “consistently poor performance,” saying the company has “lost all credibility with investors” and suggesting that it might be better off selling off assets to competitors. Quotient countered that it has already made “meaningful change(s)” aimed at “long-term, profitable growth.” Watch for this dispute to play out in the year to come, because after all, the only way a coupon company can continue to save you money, is by making money in the process.

6. Digital innovations introduced

Despite its troubles, Quotient is far from alone in envisioning a more digital future for coupons. A number of new innovations this year have moved savings opportunities from printed form, to your computer or phone.

Several companies have come up with a workaround to solve the problems that digital coupons good anywhere are difficult to distribute – and some stores, like Walmart, don’t have digital coupon programs – by offering digital gift cards that essentially work like coupons. Ibotta, meanwhile, came up with its own workaround for Walmart’s lack of digital coupons, by announcing a partnership in which Walmart will integrate Ibotta cash-back offers into its website and app.

Meanwhile, SmartSource’s new owner Neptune Retail Solutions acquired marketing technology company RevTrax, a combination aimed at “accelerating the digital transformation” of the industry with new offerings like digital in-store coupons. And 60 years after printing its first coupon book for local restaurants and businesses, the Entertainment coupon company finally announced that it’s going all-digital this coming year and retiring its big fat books for good.

All of this is on top of the continuing development of universal digital coupons. So paper coupons may not be disappearing altogether in 2022, as some have predicted. But the balance is tipping toward digital coupons more than ever.

5. Nowhere to go but up?

If you need any more evidence that digital coupons are gaining in popularity, consider the fact that figures released this year showed that digital load-to-card coupons have finally surpassed newspaper insert coupons for the highest share of redemption volume, for the very first time.

That was one notable fact in what was another rough year for coupons. For years, the number of coupons distributed, and the number of coupons redeemed, have been declining precipitously. And then the coronavirus pandemic came along, and the dramatic declines became even more pronounced. Last year, fewer coupons were issued than at any time in nearly four decades, while coupon redemption hit a low not seen in more than five decades.

The declines this year are not quite reversing, but they are slowing. Coupon distribution and redemption have still fallen, but at slower rates than before, raising the possibility that we may be hitting bottom. And with economic conditions becoming more worrisome for many, a couponing comeback in 2022 would be welcome news indeed.

4. Higher prices, fewer promotions

Of course, the problem with the current economic climate is that manufacturers are dealing with higher costs of their own. More coupons and lower prices would help consumers, but for many brands and retailers, fewer coupons and higher prices are helping their bottom line.

One after another, manufacturers of various consumer products announced this year that they’d be forced to raise prices for their products. And at least one manufacturer, Arm & Hammer owner Church & Dwight, said it had “reduced couponing and promotional spending” to help keep everyday prices from going even higher.

A survey conducted just last month found that 92% of manufacturers say they are planning to raise prices, or have already done so over the past year. And three-fourths of them plan to change their promotional strategies, including cutting back on coupons and in-store sales.

Normally, coupons and deals become more plentiful during tough economic times. But unfortunately, nothing about these past couple of years has been normal.

3. Where have the printables gone?

Back in 1996, “Supermarket Shopper” columnist Martin Sloane described “hooting for joy at the prospect of grocery coupons rolling off the Internet and onto my computer printer.” A quarter century later, far fewer coupons are rolling onto anyone’s printer.

SmartSource’s print-at-home offerings were never exactly robust. But this year, they became nonexistent, as its owner decided to quit the printable coupon business, a year after its competitor, the former RedPlum, did the same. That left Coupons.com as the main source of printable coupons, but even they are shifting their focus to Ibotta-like cash-back offers and pushing printables to the back burner.

And when even printable coupon providers are looking beyond the format, that’s saying something. Printable provider RevTrax released research this year that showed the rise in mobile browsing has corresponded with a decline in desktop printing. And Steven Boal, CEO of Coupons.com owner Quotient Technology, said this year that “paper coupons, which include print-at-home coupons, will go the way of the dinosaur and the dodo bird before too terribly long.”

So what was once an exciting new technology, could become virtually obsolete just 25 years later – just like your pager, your PalmPilot and your DVD collection.

2. The “Queenpins” of coupons

The coupon industry was abuzz when word emerged a couple of years ago that a notorious 2012 counterfeit coupon case in Phoenix was going to be adapted into a big-screen comedy. Would it send audiences the wrong message about coupon fraud? Would it complicate the industry’s efforts to educate the public about the seriousness of counterfeiting coupons? Would it treat coupon crime as a laughing matter?

Or would it quietly debut in a couple hundred theaters, shift to streaming online a few weeks later, and not make nearly as much of a splash as fans had hoped or critics had feared?

The filmmakers, genuinely nice and talented people who have produced acclaimed documentaries and tackled serious subjects, tried something new in making a comedy “inspired by” the true story of three Phoenix women involved in a multimillion-dollar counterfeit coupon ring. Studio STXfilms never released a box-office gross for the film, which had a limited theatrical release before heading to Paramount+ and Showtime.

But audiences generally liked it, giving it an average rating of 82% on the review-aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes. The critics, however, didn’t, as evidenced by the average “Tomatometer” score of just 47%. “Lowbrow humor and inconsistent storytelling undercut Queenpins’ talented cast, making this coupon-clipping comedy a disappointingly poor bargain,” reads Rotten Tomatoes’ synopsis.

And the coupon industry, which had rapid-response plans in place to counter any incorrect public perceptions about the film’s message, and its questionably problematic happy ending, ended up mostly shrugging it off and moving on. No one had ever made a comedy about coupon fraud before. And now it’s a pretty safe bet that no one is likely to try it again.

1. Coupon crime doesn’t pay

It’s not fictional coupon crime, but the real thing that ended up in the top spot in this year’s roundup of coupon news – including one crime that was so audacious, it became a record-breaker.

That’s not the way things started out this year, though, as a couple of major counterfeit cases came to disappointing ends. A Connecticut man who shockingly was able to deceptively acquire heavy-duty hologrammed and watermarked coupon paper in order to make and sell his own counterfeits, got little more than a slap on the wrist at his sentencing in May. A month later, Texas authorities proudly announced the discovery of a multimillion-dollar coupon fraud ring involving at least 87 suspects in 23 states – but they failed to mention that charges against three accused counterfeiters had been dropped, the other 84 “suspects” were just their customers, and the whole investigation was handed over to federal authorities, who court records indicate have yet to charge anyone.

But the coupon industry and federal prosecutors had much greater success in the case of Virginia Beach couple Lori Ann and Pacifico Talens, who were arrested and convicted for operating a $31 million counterfeit coupon scheme out of their home. At his sentencing in August, Pacifico Talens was ordered to serve more than seven years in prison, in what was then the longest sentence ever imposed in a counterfeit coupon case – a record broken the next month, when Lori Ann Talens was sentenced to serve 12 years. And together, they’ve been ordered to repay $31 million to the manufacturers whose coupons they counterfeited.

In Hollywood, a coupon crime story may conclude with a happy ending. But in Virginia Beach, two counterfeiters have learned that reality can be a lot harsher than fiction.

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And there you have the top ten coupon news stories of the year. And if you have way too much time on your hands, you can review the top 100 coupon stories of the decade by reading ten years’ worth of top ten stories if you’re so inclined!

If not, no worries – after all, a new year is a time to start looking ahead rather than looking back. So be sure you don’t miss any coupon news as it happens in the new year, by bookmarking this site, becoming a Facebook fan, following @couponinthenews on Twitter or subscribing to the daily emailed newsletter. And keep in touch with any comments, questions or tips by sending an email anytime.

Thank you for being a loyal reader, and happy 2022!

Image source: ccPixs.com


In-Store Coupon Dispute Comes To An End

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Will you soon be seeing a greater variety of in-store coupon dispensers, hangtags and peelies in your local stores? Or will one company still dominate the space with their own offerings?

The two sides in a long-running legal dispute are the only ones who know for sure – and they’re not telling.

Consumer marketing company Insignia Systems has dropped a lawsuit against the former owner of SmartSource – its second lawsuit, in fact – accusing News Corp’s News America Marketing of seeking to monopolize in-store promotions. News America responded with a countersuit, accusing Insignia of violating the terms of a previous agreement. Now, both sides have agreed to drop their competing claims. Neither company responded to requests for comment about whether any money changed hands as part of a settlement agreement, whether anyone agreed to change their tactics at issue, or whether they both simply agreed to back down and call it even.

Insignia had argued that having a single company provide all of the in-store coupons, shelf signage, floor graphics, shopping cart advertising and other displays in a vast majority of stores nationwide is harmful to competitors, brand manufacturers, retailers and consumers alike. News America, it said, was the sole provider of in-store coupons and promotions in all national drug store and dollar store chains, and the exclusive provider to most major grocery chains including Kroger, Albertsons and Publix. That means Insignia was locked out of “97% of the market,” the lawsuit stated. “This is an unheard-of level of consolidation.”

At one point, Insignia said it “was in late-stage negotiations with a major retailer on a distribution contract for this signage. However, News swooped in to torpedo the deal.”

The 2019 lawsuit was similar to one that Insignia filed back in 2004. Valassis, another competitor that had tried to offer in-store promotions, followed with its own lawsuit in 2006. Faced with dual accusations that it engaged in tactics like forbidding retail clients from even considering doing business with a competitor, News America settled both lawsuits, paying $125 million to Insignia and $500 million to Valassis.

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But both competitors ultimately sued again, arguing that News America was violating the terms of the respective settlement agreements by continuing to engage in the very same exclusionary tactics.

The dispute with Valassis went to trial last year, and ended with another settlement. Terms of that agreement were also not disclosed, though News Corp later revealed that it had paid up to $65 million that quarter on various expenses, including “one-time legal settlement costs.”

In the Insignia case, the defendants had claimed the plaintiff was merely “recycling its prior allegations in violation of the settlement agreement… to prop up a complaint that is utterly meritless.” News America countersued for breach of contract, and proposed two possible solutions – voiding the agreement, which meant Insignia would have to pay back the $125 million it received years ago, or Insignia would need to agree to drop its case permanently.

A third option might have involved News America agreeing to change its tactics, make its contracts less exclusionary, and allow for competitors to compete on a more level playing field. That, however, would be difficult to do, since News America Marketing itself is no more. News Corp sold the business a couple of years ago, and the new owners rebranded it as Neptune Retail Solutions. As part of the sale, News Corp agreed to see the Insignia and Valassis cases through to their conclusions, and bear the costs of litigation and any settlements.

So the end of the Insignia case officially brings to a close News Corp’s involvement in the coupons and promotions business. The company founded its News America Marketing division, and its SmartSource coupon brand, back in 1988. And it was a rocky ride at times, ultimately costing News Corp nearly a billion dollars in legal settlements over the years to resolve a number of anticompetitive claims from Insignia, Valassis, the marketing company Floorgraphics and a slew of major consumer brands like Dial, Henkel, Kraft Heinz and others.

News Corp, then, is now free from these legal and financial burdens. Neptune Retail Solutions can move forward with a clean slate, unburdened by the problems of its predecessor. And Insignia is free to market its services to its existing retail clients like Walmart, Target, ShopRite and Winn-Dixie, and potential future clients. And if all of these heated disputes over coupons and promotions result in more coupons and promotions in stores near you – coupon-seeking consumers might just end up the real winners.

Image source: Insignia Systems

Happy 50th to Your Coupon Inserts – Here’s to 50 More?

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In some ways, it seems like coupon inserts have always been a part of your Sunday newspaper. In other ways, it’s hard to believe that coupon-clipping has been a Sunday ritual for so long. Either way, this month marks a noteworthy milestone – the 50th anniversary of the free-standing coupon insert as we know it today.

It was in August of 1972 when Michigan printer George Valassis offered what was to become the first regularly-published, multi-brand coupon booklet, featuring a selection of discounts off a variety of grocery products, appearing alongside other ads and flyers inserted into Sunday newspapers (an early version of the Valassis insert is pictured above, at left). By the following year, Valassis had drawn up a full schedule of planned publication dates, so manufacturers could plan their promotional campaigns for the year ahead.

And from there, an industry was born.

While coupon inserts as we know them today might not exist without Valassis, the earliest origins of the concept go back a little further. Other printing-press operators had discovered that offering their services to grocery brands to print their coupons was a good way to drum up some additional business. Before then, coupons would often be printed on the pages of newspapers and magazines alongside other ads. Printing entrepreneurs like Ted Isaac of Kansas saw the value of combining those coupons into a single publication, providing a one-stop shop for coupon clippers.

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“Long before Steve Jobs, Ted launched the newspaper insert industry from his garage,” Isaac’s 2016 obituary read. “I’m the father of an industry,” he boasted to the New York Times decades earlier. Back in the late 1960s, Isaac’s Consumers Circulation Company began offering what he called “Happy Days” and “Flagwaver” inserts. Happy Days was simply an envelope stuffed with coupons, inserted into newspapers. The Flagwaver was a heavy-stock, one-sheet ad featuring four coupons cut along the side of the page that “waved like flags.”

Valassis’ early inserts adopted the flagwaver format. And while Isaac’s business eventually waned, Valassis stuck with it, as increasing demand turned what was a single-sheet flagwaver into a multi-page booklet as we know it today.

“Publishing a set schedule and market list in 1973 turned out to be a pivotal decision,” an early company history explained. Manufacturers like Colgate and General Foods were among the first to offer coupons in what Valassis described as “a cost-efficient, four-color vehicle that can deliver coupons to millions of people in a single day.”

“This efficient format and process kicked off the coupon culture in America,” Debbie Gauthier, Executive Director of FSI & Neighborhood Targeted at Valassis’ present-day parent company Vericast, told Coupons in the News.

Competitors came and went over the years. But while ownership of Valassis has changed several times, and the name of its inserts has changed from Valassis to RedPlum to RetailMeNot Everyday to Save, its legacy of printing coupon inserts is the longest-lasting of any company by far.

But a lot has changed over the past half-century. And change has been accelerating in recent years, with newspaper distribution declining sharply and more coupons migrating to digital formats. So does the coupon insert as we know it have another half-century of life left?

Kantar’s recent midyear figures showed that the number of coupons available is continuing a years-long decline, led by a sharp and ongoing downturn in the number of newspaper insert coupons. And it doesn’t help that major manufacturers like General Mills and Procter & Gamble have stopped offering insert coupons altogether for some or all of their brands.

But Vericast is confident we’ll be seeing Save coupon inserts for some time to come. “Distribution was about 18 million homes in the early days of the company. Last year, Vericast distributed to more than 55 million total households,” Gauthier pointed out. As newspaper distribution has declined, Vericast has increasingly pivoted to alternate distribution methods, like direct mail and home delivery, to ensure that its coupons are still received by coupon-hungry households.

“We believe in this strategy as a viable solution for our client partners,” Gauthier said. “Consumers actively sought coupons back then as they do today.”

That said, there’s no denying that the coupon business is changing. Back in the 1970’s, George Valassis simply printed coupon inserts out of his suburban Detroit home. Later, the company tried diversifying into in-store coupons, and print-at-home and digital coupons. While those initiatives didn’t last, Vericast is now working to help pioneer what supporters are calling the true future of coupons.

“From its onset, Vericast has played a significant role in developing the new Universal Coupon standard,” Gauthier said. Earlier this year, the company revealed plans to begin offering this new form of digital coupon, which can be downloaded to your mobile device and scanned right off your screen. It’s an improvement on load-to-card digital coupons, which have to be redeemed at a specific retailer, or print-at-home coupons, which are accessed online but have to be redeemed in paper form. Vericast hopes this new type of coupon will supplement those offered in its legacy coupon inserts. “As adoption of Universal Coupons grows, Vericast plans to offer consumers downloadable Universal Coupons on its Save.com website,” Gauthier said.

As for coupon inserts themselves, the format as we know it is now entering its second half-century. In these days of digital everything, the idea of printing paper coupons and hand-delivering them to homes across the country may seem outmoded. But the system has endured, as advertisers continue to find it an efficient and affordable way to reach tens of millions of shoppers every week of the year.

The concept of the coupon itself was invented well over a century ago. Can coupon inserts hit the 100-year mark too? Well, check back in about 50 years to find out.

Historical coupon insert image provided by Vericast





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