Digital coupons becoming more popular with shoppers

TAMPA, Fla. - September is National Coupon Month and for savvy shoppers over the decades, the Sunday paper has meant scouring the coupon section and clipping the best savings to use at the stores.

But the decline of newspaper subscriptions led to the rise of digital coupons.

Digital coupons are becoming more popular as more people ditch newspapers.

"I think as technology comes around, we're definitely seeing an uptick in the digital coupon usage," said Hannah Herring with Publix.

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Through the Publix app and their program, Club Publix, shoppers can use their phones or phone numbers to access savings without having to haul in paper coupons. 

"You never have to worry about where did I leave this? Or, you know, is my coupons still in the car? You have your phone, you've got your coupons," explained Herring.

Coupon policies vary by retailer.

Encouraging shoppers to use those already approved coupons on their store apps means less of a chance of potential fraud.

Shoppers are looking for the best deals.

"So if the stores start losing a lot of money they're going to have to of course shut down using coupons in general," shared Breanne Benson. 

She teaches shoppers the best couponing tricks through her social media channels "Bree The Coupon Queen".

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She said she's seeing shoppers of all ages taking interest in learning the tricks of couponing.

"I mean, I have people in college who take my program and learn how to coupon. I have people who are retired on a fixed income, take my program and learn how to coupon," said Benson. "It's kind of attracting more of the Gen Z crowd because they obviously are big on digital and apps and iPhones and iPads and all this kind of stuff. But that's something that the older generations are having to kind of learn how to use because they were used to the cutting the paper coupons back in the day."

More Gen Zers are interested in couponing.

And she said the digital coupons don't have the same stigma some people can feel with the paper ones.  

"Because they feel like the person behind them is judging them, that they're using coupons, that they can't afford it or something like that. So when you're using digital coupons, the person behind you has no idea that you're using them," explained Benson.

But whether you still clip coupons or go digital, the strategy of saving is timeless.

"So once you learn it and learn how to be organized, put together your deals ahead of time, go to the store, you keep the deals small. So that way you can really start seeing the savings and watch it add up," shared Benson.

For more information about Bree the Coupon Queen, click here.