Internet shopping spurs growth in online coupons.

The Record, Hackensack, N.J. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Dec. 5--Online shopping has changed the face of retailing, allowing consumers the freedom to comparison shop and buy from merchants across the nation -- without leaving the comfort of their homes.

At the same time, the Internet is changing the face of coupons, giving consumers more opportunities to save money. And you don't even need scissors.

Coupons have historically served to induce consumers to buy a specific product or shop at a specific store. Clip and save, the merchants said.

The problem has always been matching coupons with interested consumers. Last year, consumers cashed in $3 billion in coupons, the Promotion Marketing Association says. But that was only a small percentage of the $250 billion in coupons that manufacturers issued.

Retailers distribute them by mail, in newspaper inserts, at the checkout and through in-store displays, but there are problems with each method. The first two methods waste money (because only a small percentage of coupons are ever redeemed) and the last two do little to attract shoppers (because you're already in the store when you get them).

Now a growing number of online sites provide shoppers with big coupon savings, and they come with little cost to merchants.

Internet shoppers are already familiar with the wide range of comparison shopping sites such as mysimon.com, bizrate.com, pricegrabber.com, pricescan.com, dealtime.com, shopzilla.com, cnet. com and botspot.com.

They all have strengths and weaknesses; you decide which you like best.

Each works in a similar manner: Enter a brand and product into the search box, and you quickly get a list of merchants and prices. The better sites include charges for shipping and taxes (rather than make you wait until you get to the checkout) so you can compare the true cost, not just selling prices.

Once you get the hang of it, it's easy and can produce real savings, as I've discovered in buying items as varied as CDs, window blinds and toys.

But as I learned last week, I've been going only halfway and failing to take advantage of the countless coupons floating around in cyberspace.

Merchants often offer discounts or special deals, especially this time of year, but you need to know the discount code that is the online replacement for the traditional coupon's UPC bar code. If you're a regular customer, you'll probably get the code and sale details by e-mail. But if you're not a regular, that doesn't mean you'll be shut out.

Just as there are a number of comparison shopping sites, several Internet sites track special promotions.

Here, too, you enter information about a possible purchase, and the Web site searches for a promotional code that entitles you to a discount of 10 percent or 20 percent, free shipping or some other inducement.

I had never heard of this until my savvy daughter, Jennifer, told me of her experience in buying an electronic gizmo for her husband.

She found what she wanted at Brookstone: a top-of-the-line model of $100 (marked down from $175) and a midpriced model at $50.

Before finalizing the deal, however, she did a search with "Brookstone" and "coupon" and got a nice surprise: Brookstone had issued an online coupon for $60 off the more expensive model.

She entered the code in the appropriate place on the order form (just about every online shopping site has a place for a code) and the order went through, allowing her to buy the gizmo for $40, plus $19 for shipping and tax. (I guess I raised her right!)

Not all promotions are that attractive, but it costs nothing but a few minutes of your time to check. The worst that can happen is finding no discounts available.

Shoppers can choose from among sites including couponmountain.com, edealfinder.com, anycoupons.com, currentcodes.com, jumpondeals.com and couponcabin.com. Even easier, go to Google (or a similar search engine) and enter the merchant's name and "coupon" and see what's available.

This is a natural evolution in the century-long history of coupons.

Druggist Asa Candler is considered the father of the coupon, after he distributed handwritten tickets in 1894 for a free glass of his new fountain drink, Coca-Cola. Except for face value, coupons changed little over their first century. Over the past decade, however, they've undergone significant changes as manufacturers keep seeking better distribution methods in a rapidly changing marketplace.

Some shoppers are almost addicted to coupons; others say they can't be bothered. Sure, it's nice to save the money, but who has time to clip? And who hasn't experienced the frustration of taking the time to clip and then leaving the coupons at home?

To attract non-clippers, supermarkets and other retailers introduced so-called clipless coupons and loyalty cards in the early 1990s, allowing shoppers to trade scissors for a little plastic tag that did the same thing.

Now we have virtual coupons, available any time. Yet even with the change in methodology, the bottom line remains what it was when Candler discounted his first Coke: Merchants want to build brand loyalty and consumers want to maximize savings.

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