Consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies which have traditionally spent their money on print media have slowly started to turn towards online advertising. They have found that it is a great medium for branding and they are accelerating their testing and measurement of the ROI from online advertising.
In addition to branding, CPG manufactures are using the internet to distribute their coupons. With the downturn of the economy, consumers are looking for ways to save money and overall coupon redemption has seen an increase for the first time in 14 years, according to an article in Advertising Age.
According to Comscore data, almost 40 million people visited a coupon site in November, up more than 40% in the past two years. Top sites include Coupons.com (15 million monthly visitors in 2009), Eversave.com (7 million) and CoolSavings.com (5 million).
Since supermarkets have not seen the traffic to their website like other channel retailers have, they have begun offering their coupons on third-party sites that draw larger consumer traffic.
So what does this mean for affiliates and other online advertisers?
1) It means that consumers are still looking for discounts. Therefore, campaigns that offer some form of discount or bonus offer are still attractive to customers who are still cash-strapped.
2) CPG’s and supermarkets are industries looking to get into the online market. Take advantage of this growing area of potential clients!
3) Keep your eyes on emerging coupon based websites that can offer you great placement for your deals.