Livonia, Mich. - Valassis, one of the nation's leading media and marketing services companies, released today a comprehensive report on 2010 coupon usage that saw consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers offering consumers $485 billion in savings. This represents a 13.9% increase over the prior year and 47.4% growth compared to five years ago, according to the NCH Marketing Services 2010 Coupon Facts Report. NCH is a Valassis company.

"We have seen significant changes to shopping patterns, which have now been established as new habits and routines," said Suzie Brown, Valassis Chief Marketing Officer. "Consumers' continued interest in coupons and savings has been influenced by concerns over their own personal economic situations, and as a result, they are using more coupons, seeking savings wherever they can, combining print and digital offers and permanently becoming strategic shoppers."

In 2010, marketers once again distributed more CPG coupons than the prior year, reaching 332 billion - the largest single-year distribution quantity ever recorded in the United States, exceeding the prior record set in 2009 by 6.8% or 21 billion coupons.

Nearly two-thirds of all coupons distributed in 2010 were for grocery products, up 8% from the prior year to 216 billion coupons. The remaining one-third of coupon offers in 2010 - 116 billion coupons - were for health & beauty care (HBC) products up 4.5% from the prior year. According to the report, seven of the top 10 categories with the highest growth are non-food categories, which can be attributed to marketers' desire to make these oftentimes discretionary purchases more desirable.

Top 10 Categories With Highest Growth in Coupon

Distribution Volume in 2010
1. Oral Hygiene
2. Laundry Supplies
3. Fresheners & Deodorizers
4. Household Cleaners
5. Breakfast Foods - Shelf Stable
6. Pet Food
7. Yogurt
8. Personal Cleansing & Bath Products
9. Detergents
10. Liquor

The report also took a closer look at coupon characteristics and found:

- The average face value of CPG coupons distributed in 2010 increased by 6.6% to $1.46.

- The average coupon face value distributed for grocery products in 2010 was $1.24, up 6.9% from the prior year.

- The largest growth was in beverages, now averaging $1.52 up from $1.18 in 2009.

- The average coupon face value distributed for HBC products was $1.94, up 6.6% from the prior year.

- Over the counter (OTC) and prescription medication coupons carry an average face value of $2.21, up from $2.17 in 2009.

- 26% of all CPG coupons issued in 2010 required the purchase of two or more items to obtain the offer discount. 33% of the grocery coupons required multiple purchases and only 13% of HBC coupons required multiple purchases to receive the discount.

- Consumers now have a week and a half less time to use coupons, compared to the prior year, due to an overall shortening of offer expiration dates in both the grocery and HBC segments. The average expiration is 10.1 weeks.

- 64.4% of all grocery coupons distributed expire in eight weeks or less, and 59.6% of all HBC coupons distributed expire in eight weeks or less.

According to the NCH Coupon Facts Report, overall, 87.7% of all CPG coupons were distributed in 2010 via the Free-standing Insert (FSI). Total FSI total growth in coupons was 19 billion, the largest volume increase of all media. The second largest share of coupons distributed was via In-Store media, amounting to 5.2% of the 2010 total.

Digital coupons, including both paper and paperless formats, continued to grow in 2010 as marketers embraced these methods to reach a new audience. In total, NCH measured a 37% increase in the number of digital coupon offers, the largest increase of all coupon media types.

"In 2010, consumers saved $3.7 billion by using CPG coupons," said Charlie Brown, NCH Vice President of Marketing. "With so much money at stake, brand manufacturers and fast-moving consumer goods retailers must ensure their expenditures are protected while continuing to collaborate for the most effective use of coupon promotions to meet strong consumer demand."

Frugal shopping habits created during the most recent recessionary period were sustained throughout the sluggish economic recovery that occurred during the year. Redemption volume in the United States grew 3.1% to 3.3 billion CPG coupons. The annual coupon report also revealed that:

- Grocery coupon redemption volume grew 10% in 2010 compared to the prior year, and up 29.4% since 2006.

- 59.7% of all coupons are redeemed at traditional grocery stores, and 23.9% at mass merchandisers, including supercenters, while drug stores redeem 6.6% of the coupons in the marketplace.

- The retail segment that includes Dollar Stores represented the largest year-over-year growth in 2010 coupon redemption, up 25.1% compared to 2009.

Seventy-eight percent of respondents to NCH's 2010 Annual Consumer Survey report using coupons regularly, up 14.7 share points from pre-recession levels, and a third said that they used more coupons in 2010 than the prior year. Additional findings of this survey indicate:

- 31% of consumers say they have become more careful about bringing their coupons to the store.

- 25% report that they are clipping more coupons due to their personal economic situation.

- Nearly three quarters of those who made such shopping changes expect to continue their frugal habits in the future, even as the economy improves.

- Among those consumers who reported using more coupons than the prior year, the largest share in 2009, 37.4%, explained their reason for doing was so to stretch a limited grocery budget out of necessity.

- Once consumers adopt these frugal habits, they quickly discover that they like the feeling of saving money. Acceptance of these new habits can be seen in the largest share of response for increased coupon usage in the 2010 survey - 29.3% of consumers stated they are using more coupons for the enjoyment of saving, an increase of 11.7 share points over those stating that reason the prior year.