Coupon Mama

A recent article in AdAge focused on the cultural phenomenon of extreme couponers, now brought online by several mom bloggers. Coupon enthusiasts are responsible for 70% of products purchased with coupons. Enthusiasts who have become bloggers, many of these suburban moms, not only share coupons but share advice on avoiding marketing lures and traps. A few of them are doing so well that they are bigger drivers of traffic to coupons.com than any of the retailer or manufacturer sites. These blogs may cut down on profit margins, but they are also important generators of increased awareness for brands. Blog readers place a lot of trust in the bloggers, because they are very relatable, and genuinely want to share their own experiences. The success of these mom coupon blogs echos a case we covered in Marketing class, regarding a website that specifically pulls together communities of women to given feedback on products for specific brands. This website, shespeaks.com, recognizes that women make ~80% of purchasing decisions in the US and connect brands with their target market to gain the input they need. As e-commerce and digital marketing continue to shift the consumer landscape, I wonder how purchasing statistics will shift between men and women, and how important specific communities will be for certain brands.