Food-coupon redemption, which underwent a resurgence at the start of the recession after years of decline, continued to rise in 2010, increasing 3 percent over 2009, said market consulting company Inmar.

“The interesting news from 2010 is that the change in consumer behavior that led to drastic increases in coupon redemption during the economic crisis is holding post-recession,” said Bob Carter, president of promotion services for Inmar. “Consumers continue to be coupon sensitive. It will be interesting to watch trends for newer coupon methods, such as digital promotions.”

As consumers continue to respond favorably to coupons, marketers are increasing their efforts to reach them, with overall coupon distribution up more than 8 percent in 2010. The bulk of this distribution–78 percent–came from freestanding inserts (FSIs), which saw an increase of 7.1 percent in distribution. Surprisingly, however, redemption of FSIs actually decreased 10 percent. Instead, in-store distribution methods were responsible for the bulk of the growth, with instant redeemable and shelf-pad coupons seeing sharp increases in redemption–44 percent and 27 percent respectively.