They earn a commission from the retailer when a customer makes a purchase. Many of the coupon sites are run by Web entrepreneurs who see a business opportunity in collecting online discount codes at one site. goes further with an add-on to the Firefox browser that alerts users when an e-commerce site they are visiting has a discount. Some sites e-mail coupon lists to subscribers. Shoppers can comment on whether the coupon worked and share tips in user forums. Most of the sites list coupon codes submitted by readers and retailers. “They have seen the power of a coupon, in this economy especially, and they’re absolutely embracing us,” Mr. Today, 1,300 merchants, including Dell, Target, Home Depot and Victoria’s Secret, send him discount codes - totaling about a thousand a week. For example, when Scott Kluth founded CouponCabin in 2003, he had discounts for only 180 stores, and many of them did not like it. Other retailers use the coupon sites as marketing tools. William Ihle, a spokesman for Harry & David, said that all of its deals were available on its own site and the coupon sites “disingenuously mislead the consumer” by posting expired or unverified discounts. Harry & David, a seller of fruit baskets, threatened legal action against this spring for publishing its discounts, prompting the coupon site to steer visitors to other gift-basket companies. Some retailers try to battle the coupon sites. Sierra Trading now sends some coupons directly to Web sites and limits catalog codes to three uses.
COUPONCABIN REFERRAL CODE
“We certainly appreciated the sales, but sales with that code were at a very low margin,” said David Giacomini, director of catalog operations for the company. Instead, it led to $300,000 in sales after a customer posted it online. Two years ago, Sierra Trading Post, a site that sells overstock outdoor gear, sent a coupon code with 1,000 of its 50 million catalogs, expecting to generate $2,000 in sales. When the coupons get wider exposure, retailers lose control, potentially costing them more money than they expected. Generally, companies prefer limited discounts, e-mailed to a select group of customers or sent inside packages with a purchase. “It’s taken pricing power away from the retailers and given it to the consumers, because the consumer is totally up to speed on what the prices are.” Retailers have mixed feelings about this shift. This is something new,” said Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore. “Coupons had never been a big factor online the way they are offline. In October, 27 million people visited a coupon site, according to comScore Media Metrix, up 33 percent from a year earlier.
Ferguson may be more fanatical than most people, but surfing for online coupons is growing in popularity. Her favorite sites include, which has one of the most comprehensive lists, which includes coupons for physical stores and, which is organized by category.
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