Consumer packaged goods manufacturers offered consumers $485bn in coupon savings in 2010, according to the "2010 Coupon Facts Report" from NCH Marketing Services, a Valassis company. This represents a 13.9-percent increase over the prior year and 47.4-percent growth compared to five years ago.

"We have seen significant changes to shopping patterns, which have now been established as new habits and routines," says Suzie Brown, Valassis chief marketing officer. "Consumers' continued interest in coupons and savings has been influenced by concerns over their own personal economic situations, and as a result, they are using more coupons, seeking savings wherever they can, combining print and digital offers and permanently becoming strategic shoppers."

In 2010, marketers once again distributed more CPG coupons than the prior year, reaching 332 billion - the largest single-year distribution quantity ever recorded in the United States, exceeding the prior record set in 2009 by 6.8 percent or 21 billion coupons.

Nearly two-thirds of all coupons distributed in 2010 were for grocery products.

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