Coupons vs. Mobile Coupons vs. Coupon Codes for Holiday Shopping

As the holiday shopping season gets into full swing, frugal shoppers need to decide what tactics they are going to use to save money. There are many options being implemented including making homemade gifts, reducing the number of people on shopping lists and setting a holiday budget. One other option that many shoppers will be using this holiday season is to utilize coupons to reduce the cost of the items that they purchase. These days customers have the option of choosing between regular coupons, mobile coupons and coupon codes when shopping. Is one better than the other for saving money this holiday season?

Traditional Coupons

It is still very common for people to utilize traditional coupons clipped out of the local newspaper or printed off of the Internet. They are widely available for a large number of local stores. They sometimes offer a large percentage off of the cost of big items. However, there are numerous drawbacks of relying on mobile coupons for holiday shopping.

One major drawback is that traditional coupons take up a lot of time, which is something that many of us don’t have this holiday season. You have to take the time to find and clip (or print) the coupon. You have to organize the coupons so that you can use them properly once you get to the store. Then you have to hand them over to the cashier and wait for him or her to ring them up so that you can get your discount.

To make the time matters worse, many stores are currently having problems processing traditional coupons. For example, Target has recently required that employees hand process their coupons because they have had such a big problem with coupons not ringing up properly at the checkout. Target uses a device to measure how quickly its cashiers are getting people through the checkout lines and will be turning this device off to accommodate for the slower process of ringing up coupons by hand.

Can you imagine doing all of your holiday shopping with problems like this? Perhaps one of the other coupon options would be a better way to go for saving money this holiday season?

Mobile Coupons

This year is the first year that mobile coupons are a widespread option for holiday shoppers. There are pros and cons to that. While it’s certainly great that this new technology is starting to become more available, it’s a concern that it’s being implemented during the holiday shopping season before some of the kinks have been worked out. Although some popular places (like Starbucks) have been accepting mobile coupons for awhile, others (like Toys ‘R Us) are just beginning to offer this option during the holiday season. It’s tough to say what problems they may encounter when first learning to process these high-tech coupons.

Mobile coupons definitely offer a lot of benefits over traditional coupons. They don’t require the use of paper and so provide a green option for shoppers. They allow customers to easily find coupons that are relevant to what they are buying. This can save time because instead of hunting down as many coupons as possible before going to the store, the shopper can go to the store and find what they want first then go on to the mobile web to locate a coupon for that specific item.

As part of the program that’s being used by Toys ‘R Us, customers can opt in to receive text messages letting them know about current deals. Customers may have mixed feelings about that. On the one hand, it’s a great way to easily learn about deals that may appeal to you during the shopping season. On the other hand, it may encourage holiday impulse buying, which can cut into Christmas spending budgets and compromise your intention to have a frugal Christmas.

Mobile coupons definitely offer some great benefits to customers. However, because they are fairly new this holiday season, they may not be the optimal option for saving money on Christmas shopping.

Coupon Codes

Coupon codes offer many of the benefits that you can get from traditional coupons and mobile coupons. Those benefits include:

o Coupon codes are now widely available for a large number of local stores as well as chain stores. They are more common than mobile coupons right now so it’s easier to find them and quicker to use them with some stores.
o They are accessible online so if you have a smartphone that can access the mobile web then you can get them on the go.
o This allows you to find the item that you want first and then locate a coupon code for it, saving time as compared to traditional coupons.

In addition to these benefits, coupon codes offer the benefit of being usable when doing online shopping. Many customers find that it is a lot easier to stick to a holiday shopping budget when they do their shopping online from home. They avoid the stress of the holiday shopping crowds. They can take the time that they need to make smart buying decisions. And they can easily do comparison shopping to make sure that they’re getting the right price on what they buy. Coupon codes facilitate this online holiday shopping.

Use a Combined Approach

The best way to save with coupons this holiday season is to combine all three options as needed to get the best price. Select the one that you will primarily use and focus on that one first. For example, if you are going to do a bulk of your Christmas shopping online then focus on using coupon codes to save money on your purchases. However, when you do need to get an item from a local store, check to see if there is a printable coupon or mobile coupon that you can use to reduce the cost of holiday shopping. Start shopping as early as possible to give yourself enough time to find the coupons that you need to make your Christmas gifts affordable this year.

Do you have a good story about using coupons to reduce Christmas shopping costs? Share it in the comments!