ClydeBank Finance - Couponing QuickStart Guide: The Simplified Beginners Guide to Couponing

Contents

Terms displayed in bold italic can be found defined in the glossary

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Introduction

I first became intrigued by couponing in 2005. Id recently graduated from college and was living in Columbia, Missouri. I was working two part-time jobs, one as a clerk at Barnes & Noble and another selling cell phones out of a kiosk at the mall. Though still unsure of my professional path, I had no shortage of energy and was attracted to entrepreneurism. In 2005 alone Id conducted serious research into starting (or purchasing) a retail gelato business, a Segway touring business, and an online couponing business. As fate would have it, it was the lattermost endeavor, the couponing business, that attracted the most attention from my family, friends, and would-be partners. It wasnt that my other ideas (gelato and Segway tours) were bad. It was just that the couponing projectColumbia Smart Shopper as Id initially named itpossessed an undeniable, slam-dunk value proposition.

The idea was to set up a website for grocery shoppers that allowed them to quickly identify local grocers offering great prices on sought-after items. Customers would build their grocery lists on the site and would immediately be told where to go to find the best deals in town.

What made the concept truly great, however, was the introduction of coupons. A friend and mentor of mine began looking into the emerging phenomenon of IP (Internet printable) coupons and concluded that if I could find an efficient way to match low regional sale prices with powerful coupon-based savings, the result would be a truly revolutionary, money-saving product for my customers.

I began building trial databases using the sales data from general grocery sale circulars that came in the mail. I contacted management- and corporate-level staff at various grocery chains and tried to convince them it was in their interest to disclose their sales prices to me forty-eight hours before they were released to the public. I hired a bright web developer, and soon we had a beta version of the website up and running.

The beta site was, well, not great. My web developer was exceptionally bright but fresh out of school, like me, and inexperienced (also like me). And the concept, as I envisioned it, required a website with multiple levels of functionality, from ecommerce to automated database management. I didnt have the nerve or the know-how to scale the business appropriately, and Id already spent a substantial amount of my own money on it.

A couple of weeks after launching the beta site, one of my part-time employers offered me a full-time salaried management position if I would agree to relocate to the St. Louis area. I took the job and bade farewell to Columbia Smart Shopper.

It was at some point between 2008 and 2009, shortly after the release of the iPhone 3G, when I discovered a website and a corresponding app called The Grocery Game. Lo and behold, a California entrepreneur named Teri Gault had taken the same idea (my idea) and run with it.

Note : The Grocery Game closed its virtual doors in early 2016, but other similar coupon-to-sale matching services, such as www.grocerycouponnetwork.com, have taken the same concept and carried it forward.

As the smartphone era took hold, a slew of other online/mobile couponing services were established; many of them found success. In 2013, online couponing company RetailMeNot went public, raising $191 million in capital through its initial public offering. By 2014, about five hundred million people worldwide were using mobile coupons. That number is expected to surpass one billion by the year 2019.

Whos to say where Id be now had I spent the last ten years in the coupon industry? Perhaps wed have merged with The Grocery Game or made deals with product manufacturers allowing us to issue our own coupons to customers. I wonder how much we might have raised during our own initial public offering.

Oh well, no regrets. Hindsights always 20/20, but the fact remains, money-saving opportunities through coupons are more widespread and abundant than ever before, from your newspaper to your phone and everywhere in between. If you know where to look, how to organize, and how to think about couponing, then youre bound to find success.

Now, weve scanned high and low, far and wide, from hell to breakfast, and six ways from the Sunday funnies to track down the best coupons. Weve also sought out and evaluated a multitude of time-saving coupon organizational systems that will ensure you get the maximum amount of money-saving coupon mileage with the least amount of time investment. And that last bit is important too: how to think about couponing. Remember, coupons are marketing tools. Coupons are not random acts of corporate kindness. A wise man once said, Couponing is like sailing and coupons are like the wind. A good sailor is not blown about by the wind but harnesses its power, shaping it to his own chosen velocity.

Okay, full disclosure, the metaphors my own creation. But still, the concept holds true, does it not? Coupons should complement your shopping habits and save you money. They should not radically alter your routine. This book will teach you how to save money by setting your own course with couponing. If youre looking to become an Extreme Couponer, great; well introduce you to the simple and essential strategy that Extreme Couponers use to save several thousand dollars a year in groceries and consumer goods. If youd prefer a more casual approach, then well show you everything you need to know and then some. If youre keen on a good deal, but dont want to spend exorbitant amounts of time cutting or printing coupons, again, weve got you covered. If youre interested in what the online universe has to offer when it comes to coupons and deals, and would prefer to minimize your clipping in favor of a few solid apps, again, this QuickStart Guide will be your essential couponing companion.

In the first chapter were going to introduce you to the four kinds of couponers . They come from different types of households and have different goals when it comes to couponing. See if you can find yourself!

Lee Spears and Chelsey Dulaney, RetailMeNot Surges in Initial Trading after $191 Million IPO, Bloomberg (July 2013): http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-07-19/retailmenot-surges-after-pricing-191-million-ipo-at-mid-range

Mobile Couponing Statistics Demonstrate Virality, TrueShip . (July 2015): Accessed May 26, 2016, http://www.trueship.com/blog/2015/07/16/mobile-couponing-statistics-demonstrate-virality/#.V0eMxZErKM9

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