By cynthiawitson88 February 17, 2017 - 12:15pm

Retailers know that people are looking for discounts. Years ago, they used to publish a flyer that had coupons people could retrieve at the register for an extra 20 percent or 30 percent off the price. Some still use these, calling them doorbusters or early-bird specials. Retailers also are aware that people are searching for online discounts and using their smartphones for deals. That’s why the savvy retailer is offering online discounts and smartphone applications at a record pace for people to use. The question is are these really good for customers? Yes. Here’s why.

Low-paying jobs. Although the economy has bounced back from the lows of 2008 when the worldwide economy came to a halt due to financial institutions’ mistakes, people still are either underemployed or earning a lot less than what they were earning. College graduates are coming from university with high debt and not getting a good salary. Mid-level managers are making a fraction of what they used to make 10 years ago. Therefore, most people want to cut their costs somehow. Online coupons and discounts
allow customers to save money and spend it somewhere else. Many people remain unemployed or face competition they never faced. For example, taxi drivers are fighting Uber and its sharing a ride idea.
Internet persuasion. If you consider how people are retrieving their news right now, you’ll see how fast it is. The Internet has changed how the world stays up on what is happening. With the advent of 24-hour news channels, constantly updated news network websites, increased prevalence of high speed Internet, and social networks, people are able to receive news almost as soon as it happens. As a result, if a retailer is posting information about a special online coupon or discount, the world will know immediately. This means shoppers will tell others and the popularity for those deals will grow. Many blogs
and websites focus on shopping, which adds speed to the notice of deals. Retailers are catering to those of you who are on top of the deals because they know you’ll buy.
Bargain hunters. Some people make it their mission in life to find the best deals regardless of whether they can pay a higher rate. For example, a couple travels throughout South America as cheaply as possible. They write a travel blog about discounts you can get for your holidays. If you just don’t like paying full price for anything, you need to go on-line and search for those discounts.
Steep discounts. Get a promotional code for an online purchase, and you could get 50 percent off the price. Go to the store, and you could get 20 percent off the price. Which is better? Obviously, if you get more from an on-line discount, you should use that discount versus what the retailer provides in-house.
More variety. Shopping online gives you more options. You can see the colours that the store didn’t order. You can get sizes that aren’t available in the store. Often, you can get discounts that are linked to the unique items on-line versus those on the sale racks in the store. It can be frustrating to see a sale that is only for certain items when you visit a store, but online the sale could be on all items.
Free. Often, retailers require you to own a store credit card before you are able to receive special discounts. Retailers make a large percentage of their profits from getting people to use store credit cards. However, if you don’t want another credit card or you have poor credit and can’t get another credit card, you need another way. On-line discounts are available for free from a number of sites for most retailers. Also, retailers use them to get people to come into the store by asking customers to print them and bring them with them to the store.
Easy to use. On-line discounts are easy to use. You can enter the promotional code into the discount line upon checkout if you are purchasing online, or you can print the coupon to bring with you to the store for the clerk to enter at the appropriate place. You also can scan the QR coupon to your phone or use it from your smart phone. However, other coupons might have restrictions that make them difficult to use or be complicated in how they work.