Yahoo has added coupons to its online mix. Today, the company unveiled its new Yahoo Deals Web site, which offers shoppers coupons, information about promotions, sales and tips on saving money.
The site aims to fill a surging demand for cost-saving ideas. According to the company research, searches for the term “printable coupons” are up 50 percent this year compared to the same time in 2008 and up 135 percent compared to 2007. Yahoo’s research finds that the most popular searches for coupons included searches for coupons for major retailers and groceries as well as discounts at the local pizzeria.
“Frugality is the new ‘cool,'” said Greg Hintz, head of Yahoo Shopping, in a statement. “We now know that couponing and bargain hunting are losing their stigma and are now a regular habit for many people.”
To accommodate these demands, the new Yahoo Deals site offers printable coupons through a partnership with Coupons.com as well as other deals. These include special offers at neighborhood chains and restaurants, grocery coupons and a gas finder widget where visitors can enter their zip codes to see where the cheapest gas is in their area.
According to Yahoo, 43 percent of respondents said they are using coupons more this year than last, while 76 percent of female respondents say that easier access to coupons would make them more likely to use them. Hintz sees this as just the niche that Yahoo Deals can fill. “Our goal at Yahoo is to be the center of people’s online lives and we’re making Yahoo the easiest place for consumers to find and manage the coupons and deals that are relevant to their lives.”
Yahoo is using a number of social media features to promote the site. Shoppers can inform their friends through e-mail, Twitter or Facebook about various promotions or deals they have learned about.
Consumer-oriented clips from the TV show Inside Edition, providing shopping tips, are also available on the new site. Yahoo, which spent $15.6 million on advertising in 2008 and has spent $1.3 million so far this year, per The Nielsen Company.
—Nielsen Business Media
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