Voucher codes - good for the economy?

What is it about consumers who seem to be content with paying a premium for something new? It is as if we have been brought up to expect that old is cheap and new is expensive. We think nothing of paying hugely inflated prices for a product just because we want to be an early adopter and be able to impress our friends, or to be seen as keeping up with cutting edge new technology. It is almost as if we have come to terms with the fact that to be the owner of something brand new we have to be prepared to pay top prices for it. In America of course, this mindset is quite the opposite. Over there, they have been brought up to expect to get a discount on any new launch, after all, this would stimulate sales and provide the perfect platform to launch the product to market. You cannot walk into a store there without being bombarded by coupons for discounts. It is a fact that without an aggressive coupon strategy, many American business will fail to win new customers.

Are we then content to pay a premium for something that will inevitably become lower in price anyway once it is superseded by a seemingly better, faster, more efficient version? The answer is not any longer. Voucher codes have become big business and are now responsible for changing the way we purchase goods. A recent Experian survey showed that over 44 million of us scoured the Internet and entered or downloaded and printed out discount vouchers when going shopping. This is a rise of 23% percent over the same period last year. There are many factors for this growth, the largest of all being the power of social networking. Sites such as Face Book or MySpace have lit the touch paper on this phenomenon and it shows no sign of slowing down. Why? Simply because in these hard recession hit times, we are desperate for a way to save money, to rid us of the guilt of spending when we can least afford it. But the reality is that we are spending even more just because we feel we are getting a bargain and that is a dream scenario for the retail market. What better way to stimulate the economy than by offering us a discount. It is too tempting an offer to refuse, so we jump at the opportunity. More and more retailers are waking up to the fact that without a voucher code strategy in place they will fundamentally lose out in the race for customers.

Who benefits? Everyone. We have that essential purchase and feel good about getting it at a discount thanks to the voucher code we used and retailers are delighted with the growth of customer traffic. It is truly a win win scenario for the economy and with signs that the recession is finally on the wane, 2010 looks like being a very good year for all of us. Good for the economy? Undoubtedly.