17 Dec

Written by Kathryn Vercillo on December 17, 2009

2009 has been a really exciting year for people who enjoy getting discounts. We have seen a lot of new websites pop up which offer information and deals about saving money. We have seen many new merchants begin to make promotional codes available to people in response to the increased demand for higher savings. We have seen advances in technology that are changing the way that we receive and redeem discount codes. But the changes are not going to stop here. 2010 is also likely to be an exciting year for frugal living and saving money using promotional codes.

Here is a look at the top ten trends that we are likely to see in voucher use in the year to come:

    1. Continued rise in the use of online promotional codes. We have seen a huge increase in the number of people who are choosing to use promotional code websites in the past year. This trend is going to continue on into 2010. People are going to be using discount codes left and right. Older people will start adopting the use of online discount codes whereas in the past they have traditionally clipped paper coupons.
    2. Increase in the number of luxury items purchased using discount codes. The economy is still going to remain bad in 2010 (at least so far as we can tell at this point) so people will continue to use discount codes to live frugally. However people are starting to see small positive changes in the economy which encourages them to consider doing a little bit more luxury shopping than they did in 2010. We will see more luxury purchases (such as exotic vacations or spa days) that are bought using vouchers.
    3. More availability of mobile coupons. Mobile coupons have just started to emerge in 2009. These deals aren’t too widespread yet because they require the use of certain types of technology (such as point-of-purchase bar code scanners) that not all stores have yet. These new high-tech vouchers are going to rise in popularity as they become increasingly available to people around the world.
    4. More smartphone applications for getting discounts. In addition to the general ability to use phones to redeem vouchers we are likely to see a bigger presence of smartphone applications that are specifically geared towards helping people find deals. Applications that use geolocation technology to notify people about deals that are near them in any given area will likely be particularly popular in 2010.
    5. Independent businesses will be more likely to offer promotional codes. Right now a majority of the discount codes that are offered to people are offered by chain stores and big businesses. However there are a lot of small business owners that want to take advantage of voucher trends. In 2010 we will see a lot of smaller businesses (and even Etsy stores and eBay stores) offering new types of discount codes to the loyal customers who shop with them. We might even see voucher codes at Farmers’ Markets!
    6. New trends in social networking among people who use discount codes. 2009 seemed to be the year of Twitter and Facebook for discount code users. In 2010 we are going to see new niche social networking sites that are designed specifically for sharing information among people who use vouchers. We’ve seen this a little bit already but we’re going to see an increase in this as time goes on. We will also see new trends in how vouchers are made available; the deals will be driven by the purchasing trends of groups using these sites. Additionally people will be using real-time reviews to make decisions when comparison shopping.
    7. Vouchers for health and wellness will be among the most popular discounts that we see. One study indicates that over 90% of consumers want better access to discount codes for health and wellness products. Research further indicates that many people would rather take the money that they save from deals like this and reinvest it back into getting better food and health products for their families. This shows that in 2010 we will see a stronger emphasis on health trends all around and that voucher trends will support this.
    8. There will be more reason-to-buy advertising with deals. A major trend in marketing in 2010 is going to be that people will need a reason to buy the items that are being sold to them. Frugal people already require this. In other words, people won’t choose to use a discount code just because it’s a good deal; they will need to be presented with a solid reason why they want to pay for this item beyond just the fact that the sale is a good one. This could lead to more meaningful advertising of deals.
    9. Green deals will be even more popular. It’s still in style to be green. Expect to continue to see more and more eco-friendly products offered in the discount codes that you see in the upcoming year.
    10. The first three months of the year is when we will see the best deals. Finally we should all pay attention to the promotional codes that are offered in the beginning of the year because there’s a prediction that this will be the time when the year’s best deals are made. That’s because it is suspected that shoppers will limit their buying after the holiday season plus this is the time of year when travel is least common. To get people to buy merchants are going to offer some really top deals at this time.

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