The History of Coupons
Coupons are an excellent way for consumers to save money on anything from every day household items and food, to larger purchases such as windows, car repair, or house cleaning services. Essentially, a coupon is a piece of paper that can be used to take money off of the retail price of an item or to take a certain percentage off of a total purchase price. It can also be anything used to replace money in exchange for an item or service. The use of coupons has increased significantly over the last decade, thanks in part to new, printable Internet coupons that allow people to simply click on the products they enjoy using, print out the coupon, and take it to the store for use. The manufacturer of products enjoy providing coupons to their consumers because it encourages them to make purchases, and makes for a great marketing tool. Today, several million people use coupons for their every day transactions. In fact, over three billion dollars in coupons are used each year in the United States alone. The first documented use of coupons in the United States took place in 1888, when a man named Asa Candler offered paper tickets in exchange for a free sample of Coca-Cola. At the time, Candler was a partner in the Coca-Cola Company, and thought promoting the new product with tickets or coupons would be an excellent way to encourage new people to try it out. In turn, word spread and soon people across the nation were drinking Coca-Cola.
A man by the name of C.W. Post also believed that coupons could help serve as a marketing tool for his products. Post was the founder of the now famous Post Cereals empire. He knew that in order for people to truly appreciate his products, they had to be offered some kind of incentive to buy them. In 1909, he began to offer one cent off a purchase of Grape Nuts cereal. The sales of Grape Nuts increased tremendously, and people were hooked on using coupons as a way to try new things as well as save some money. During the Great Depression, things like food, clothing, and household goods were in low supply and millions were out of work. People were struggling to survive, and most could barely afford to feed their families. By the 1930s, grocery stores were appearing all over the country, and with this new type of store being used more frequently, manufacturers began to produce more coupons. Soon, housewives were using coupons for everything from sewing thread to a wide variety of brand name food products. The use of coupons helped families to save money that they could use for other things, and it helped people put food on the table.
By 1940, coupons were also being offered in the stores themselves as a form of reward for the stores' customers for shopping there. Most larger sized grocery store chains began to offer savings within the store in order to garner customer loyalty, and to bring in and entice new customers to switch to their store. These rewards or coupons combined with the traditional manufacturer's coupons helped to bring in customers and keep them hooked for life. This trend continued to grow over the next several decades and by 1965, over half of all households were using some form of coupons. It helped to bring in more customers to the larger chain stores, and took business away from many smaller, "mom and pop" type stores. Today, coupons are big business. There are entire websites devoted to printing, finding, and using coupons in order to save money. Online marketing through email newsletters, codes to use for buying things online, and the use of more traditional, printable coupons have all become a great way for companies to market their products and encourage product use. Since many consumers can now find the coupons they want with the click of a mouse, coupons are more accessible and easy to use than ever before.
For more information about coupons and their history, please refer to the following websites:
