How online coupons have become a global craze

Money-related concerns ranked Nos. 1, 2 and 3 according to GfK Roper Consulting’s 2011 Mood of the World Report, a survey of 32,000 consumers representing 25 countries. While American consumers are historically known for using coupons and discounts in order to save money, more and more people are shopping online all over the world and this paired with the recent economic crisis has led to an increase in use of online deals.

The redemption of online coupons in the U.S. skyrocketed by 263 percent in 2009 and continues to grow according to Nielsen research. With the ongoing recession, this surge of consumers using codes to secure discounts is set to continue – not just in the U.S., but internationally as well.

During the same period, the number of searches online for terms such as ‘discount codes’ and ‘online vouchers’ increased by 47.5 percent in the U.K. and this trend has continued with monthly search figures for ‘voucher codes’ peaking at 370,000 suggesting consumers are not willing pay full price for their purchases any more.

This growing global interest in using coupons to save money inspired deal aggregator Savings.com to spin off a U.K. version of its site in 2009. Savoo.co.uk is strikingly similar to its sister site – with some notable distinctions which can be ascribed to cultural differences. For example, Savoo has an entire category of voucher codes (as they are know in the U.K.) for “Bookmakers and Betting.”

And it may come as a surprise that monolithic coupon site RetailMeNot originated in Melbourne, Australia before being acquired by Austin, Texas-based WhaleShark Media this past year. In addition to deal offerings for U.S.-based stores, they list coupons for the U.K., Canada, Germany, India, France, the Netherlands and, of course, their home base of Australia.

Consumers in Mexico and Colombia can get their deal fix via ClickOnero also known as “ClickOn” in Argentina and Brazil. Scandinavians use rabattkod365.se among other deal sites and in France there’s ma-reduc.com, which translates as “My Coupon.”

Daily deal sites have also caught on all over the globe with Groupon operating in 150 markets in North America and another 100 markets in Europe, Asia and South America. Competitor Living Social moved to expand its base of operations with the acquisition of a majority stake in the European site Let’s Bonus in January and in June they scooped up Ensogo and GoNabit covering Thailand, the Phillipines, Indonesia and the Middle East. In addition they’ve launched Daily Deals in the Netherlands so that they are now operating in 21 countries to date.

Even as Groupon and Living Social continue to expand globally, foreign competitors are springing up to go head-to-head with them. In the Phillipines, eSariSari recently launched an algorithm-based beta site and Korea boasts three hot deal sites: WeMakePrice, Ticket Monster and Coupang. These “home grown” daily deal sites have a bit of an advantage over the U.S. sites gone international and in fact, Ticket Monster has started acquiring other deal sites in a bid to be a global contender like Groupon and Living Social.

The popularity of daily deal sites is so strong it has spawned sites like Dealsupermarket, a secondary marketplace for the buying and selling of unused daily deals in Singapore and Youpon!, billed as “the world’s largest daily deal aggregator” which is based in Japan and covers 30 countries. In addition, the Savings.com and Savoo deal aggregators have implemented personalization technology to help bargain hunters wade through the deluge of deals and locate those that interest them most.

So whether the language is English, French or German or the currency is dollar, yen or euro, the desire for getting a deal is most definitely universal.