Rising Costs Drive Surge in Online Coupon Use Among U.S. Shoppers

With interest rates and inflation on the rise, online shoppers are turning to coupons to offset their expenses.

That’s according to SimplyCodes’ new study titled “2024 Coupon Codes Sentiment,” which is based on 1,194 responses from a survey issued earlier this month.

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In the study, the AI-powered promo code platform found that 3 in 5 Americans — more than 60 percent — actively seek and use promotional, discount or coupon codes for online purchases. In fact, more than half — 54 percent — of surveyed shoppers report a rise in their use of coupon codes in the past year. The primary reasons cited include economic factors like inflation and the cost of living (74 percent), followed by a desire to save money (56 percent) and personal circumstances such as changes in employment, income and family size (48 percent).

By using these coupon codes, 10 percent of shoppers reported saving more than $50 per purchase. However, most (32 percent) report saving less than $10 or about $10 to $25 per purchase.

Currently, the majority of these online purchases (65 percent) consist of clothing and shoe items. Personal care, body care and cosmetics follow closely at 53 percent, while travel-related purchases lag behind at 17 percent.

However, despite an increase in coupon usage, 44 percent of respondents reported that the availability of promo codes has remained about the same over the past year, with only 26 percent noticing an increase in availability.

Another notable finding in the report is that online shopping habits and coupon code usage show little variance across different age groups, except for 18- to 29-year-olds who are more influenced by promo codes.

Specifically, 46 percent of this age group indicate that seeing a promo code for a store motivates them to shop there, compared to 36 percent among those aged 30 to 44 and 30 percent among those aged 45 to 60.

While there are minor differences in age groups, there is a “significant contrast” in behavior based on household income. Households earning more than $125,000 demonstrate a stronger tendency to actively seek and use discount codes while shopping online, in contrast to those with incomes below six figures.

Notably, the highest percentage of consumers using coupon codes online falls within the income range of $175,000 to $199,999, with 89 percent reporting usage, compared to just 53 percent in the income bracket of $10,000 to $24,999, according to the report.

“Online coupon codes are playing an increasingly vital role in today’s retail world,” explained Michael Quoc, chief executive officer and founder of SimplyCodes. “As consumers face economic challenges, they use digital discounts to stretch their budgets and maximize savings, [and] brands are seeing promo codes as a way to attract new customers and build loyalty.”

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