About Online Grocery Coupons

Online grocery coupons are certificates intended for the purpose of lowering a price of an item. These types of coupons can be redeemed at specific grocery stores or sometimes at their competitors. Online grocery coupons range in price from ten cents to $5.00, with average savings around $1. Some grocery coupons make an item free upon purchase or after rebate.

History

Coupons started in 1909 with CW Post of Post Cereals. He created coupons as a way of getting customers to try his new products. In 1995, food manufactures started offering coupons over the Internet with the hope of creating customer loyalty, as well as giving an incentive to new customers to try products at a lower price.

Function

Online grocery coupons provide discounts on products. There are online grocery coupons for all products, but many of these coupons are dedicated to new products.

Types

There are two ways to use online grocery coupons--either load them to a membership rewards card or print the coupon individually. The former is a new system that only a few grocery stores use. If a grocery store allows it, coupons can be added to their personal rewards account from the Internet. Upon checking out at the grocery store, the member provides his rewards card and the discounts are subtracted, without the use of paper coupons. The latter is the most popular way to use online grocery coupons, as most grocery stores take Internet printable coupons with legible bar codes.

Warning

Not all grocery stores take Internet printable coupons, although most do. Most groceries stores do not allow coupons to be loaded onto their membership rewards cards. It is necessary to check with the store before attempting to use online grocery coupons.

Benefits

Online grocery coupons lower the price on wanted items and allow customers to try new items without much investment. Online grocery coupons are also more eco-friendly, because the customer can pick and choose exactly which coupons he needs and not print the others.