Coupons.com Reports Top Coupon Categories for 2012

Honoring September’s National Coupon Month, Coupons.com released the top coupon categories for 2012. The company also released the top mobile and fastest rising categories of the year. Cereal took home the number one ranking as the year’s most popular coupon category and held the top spot in mobile, too; Automotive revved up as the category that’s rising the fastest in popularity over the year prior. “National Coupon Month is a great opportunity to celebrate how much Americans like to stretch their hard earned dollars,” said Jeanette Pavini, Coupons.com Household Savings Expert. “Consumers are clamoring for savings more than ever, with 2011 representing the highest number of coupons ever redeemed. And, while our lists show that consumers are using coupons the most for saving on traditional grocery items, they are increasingly looking to save money for other items like automotive, apparel, toys, and home entertainment.” Cereal Reigns Supreme Ready-to-Eat Cereal was the most popular coupon category in 2012, taking back the title from Household Cleaning Supplies, which topped the list at this time last year. Household cleaners continued to outpace all other categories by a significant margin for the first six months of the year until Cereal made a quick jump up the charts in July and August to reclaim the overall top spot. Food items Yogurt, Butter & Margarine, Dinner Meats and Cheese made the list at numbers three, four, seven and eight, respectively. Top Coupons Categories – January 1–August 31, 2012

Top Mobile Coupon Categories Consumers continue to increase their use of mobile devices to access, browse, print and save coupons. As measured by consumer interaction with Coupons.com’s Grocery iQ and Coupons.com mobile apps, mobile users did gravitate towards the most popular coupon categories, but more mobile couponers were seeking out softness with their savings on Hand & Body Lotion, which ranks sixth on the Mobile list and ninth on the overall list. Mobile users also liked saving on Fruit Juice, which ranked eighth on the Mobile list but didn’t crack the Top Ten on the overall list. Mobile Top Categories – January 1-August 31, 2012

Fastest Rising Categories While coupon usage remains highest for grocery items, popularity is increasing among many non-grocery categories. The categories that showed the biggest increase in coupon usage for 2012 include automotive, apparel, toys & games, and home entertainment. 2012 has also seen a rise in coupon usage for flowers and gifts and personal care items, and those categories are expected to continue to increase through the remainder of the year. Fastest Rising Categories – January 1-August 31, 2012