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What if I tell you that you have a way to tell your favorite shop that you are a value buyer?

Mom’s have been using coupons for a long time. We even heard stories of a family of 5 being fed with $50 using coupons.

Coupons used to exist as scrimps of paper cut out from newspapers offering discounts on specific products sold by shops. It is quite similar to running a sale everyday.

I used to wonder why would they do that. Only after economic classes in junior high did I understand the reason.

The economics of coupons

What those shops is practicing is to target as many customers of different purchasing power to bug from them. Prices are usually priced above the cost price.

To attract potential buyers who are more price elastic ( meaning those shoppers looking for value) they introduce coupons. Coupons do not always result in lower prices so only shoppers who match their spending and look to buy that cheap prices bothers to evaluate.

With coupons, the retailers is able to capture both the inelastic shoppers and the price sensitive ones.

Coupons – Web 2.0 style

Consumer trends have change vastly from the days where coupons are furnish only to bricks and mortar shops. Nowadays, online shopping have become very popular and couponing have evolved as well.

Sites like http://www/CouponChief.com provide a directory where retail shops such as Target or HP can list their coupons.

Shoppers can key in coupon codes at the retailers online Shopping Cart to seek discounted prices or print out  the coupons to bring it to the shop.

Tips for being more savvy with Coupons

Not all coupons result in cheaper price

Some coupons offer discounts only against normal retail sale price. You will need to compare the price you get when you use coupons vs if you don’t use. It might not be worth while to use coupons

Coupons on smaller quantities might be more worth it

Most people think that buying in bulk is more value for money but when it comes to coupon payment, it might be more prevalent that smaller quantities offer the better discount.

Join a coupon forum or group

You might not have the time to research how best to make use of the coupons or where offers the most value for money when it comes to coupon payment but a group that pools brains and intelligence together will yield a much better result.

Conclusion

In this tough economic times, we need to watch our pennies well and even if we do not have cash problems, it helps to live a frugal lifestyle. Do take a look at sites like Coupon Chief which makes coupon discovery much easier for you.