Tips for Using a Printplace Coupon in 2011

An increasingly popular option for consumers looking for savings is the phenomenon of the printplace coupon. These items can be found on many Internet websites devoted to mass-company discounts and specials, usually in the form of printable coupons, or coupon codes. Most of these are funded by the major brands themselves depending on the industry, and are intended to create and expand their printplace customer base at the temporary expense of taking a hit to their bottom line. It’s also a means by which those same companies can build a mailing list of their online customers the purpose of informing them of new products and upcoming deals.

In the words of James Bernard, head analyst at PriceCom (a research concern):

Because online printing coupons and discounts exist across such a large range of products and services on the web, put together these deals create the opportunity for shoppers to greatly reduce their consumer expenses across the board. The coupons the only save people dollars, but also time inconveniently finding immediate discounts or whatever items are being searched for.

Visitors to the discount sites merely look under the specific category of their interest, and the appropriate coupon code should already be available from at least one brand or whatever they’re looking for. This beats poring through the “dead tree media” of the newspaper or local flyer to track down the elusive good deal.

In this manner, printplace coupons (check this PDF case study) have revealed one more way in which the Internet can be “better than reality,” in that each discount website house under one roof more savings opportunities than the average person could ever find in the off-line world. Yet downloading the coupon or code makes realizing the value very simple in the real world, as the print out can be easily used by a grocer or store clerk. If a household spends $600 a month, for example, on food and groceries but averaged finding a 25% discount via coupons, they would save at least $150 a month on regular household items. These items might originate in the printplace facility shown in the video below:

Doing a search for these bargains is a simple as using any Internet search engine to come up with abundant hits per each category for which you are seeking a deal. Those interested in managing their pocketbook at a time where international rumors abound that economic times will become even more troublesome, will find coupon codes and other web-based shopping discount campaigns to be a tremendous lifesaver both now and well into the future.

So let’s ask ourselves – do you save more with online vs. offline coupons?

When searching for savings on consumer goods, you’re certainly better off online printing coupons or promo codes featured on many discount deal websites, compared to the traditional coupons of the off-line world. For one thing, a lot more bargains are available across a larger range of goods and services, and secondly, they’re all in the same place — the website hub is a convenient portal for acting on the promotions on an “a la carte” basis, where only the coupons you want to act on need to be printed out for use.

Consider the following points when assessing the value of a printing coupon in the business marketplace:

• Old-school off-line coupons don’t compare, because they tend to be transient in nature, don’t offer enough of a deal in many cases, and can be time intensive to string together to create a meaningful or consistent savings plan.
• How many times have you found the right coupon for the right products are interested in, only to find out the sale has expired? Or, that the real discount refers only to a product that you’re not interested in at all?
• The truth is, most manufacturer coupons are for new items companies trying to build a new customer base into trying out, and not for established products.

Online printing coupons can’t get away with pushing irrelevant product deals on to consumers as readily, because the discount promotion website community engages in too much competition to risk losing visitors with such tactics.

David Humber, president of ExecuCorp, said it best in a press release last month:

The convenience of having lots of choices in one spot from which to choose both the product and brand will save money with, discourages the companies from foisting bad offers onto shoppers. This is because the Internet is the medium least predisposed toward impulse purchases, including discount promotions.

The existence of a wide array of competing savings sites removes the ability to isolate or corner a consumer into considering only one sales offer, thus making the focus of the site one of offering the best sales discount on the best products. One still has to watch out for being misled about the extent of the possible savings from online printing coupon or code — it’s just much easier to handle an online basis versus off-line. It still costs a little bit in printer ink and paper costs to print the coupons out, so make sure you really want the discount!

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