How to Clip Amazon Coupons & Why Amazon Does This in the First Place
We investigated why Amazon requires you to “clip” their digital coupons.
Amazon has us thinking…🤔
Coupons are essential to living a frugal lifestyle. Plus, why would anyone want to pay full price if we don’t have to? We’re been mindlessly clipping coupons, both virtually and physically, for quite some time. But have you ever wondered…why?
Amazon, for instance, has orange coupon flags indicating there’s an available discount, and unless you check that box, the coupon isn’t applied. But why isn’t it automatic?
Apparently, clippable Amazon coupons are all about attempting to avoid abandoned purchases.
CNN mentions that 70% of online shopping carts containing at least one thing end up being abandoned. This seems to be a major problem for every company, but especially for Amazon since ALL sales are online.
I’ll admit that I’m definitely guilty of creating a virtual shopping bag and not buying it simply because I’m not ready to make that commitment. This seems to be a common variable in online shoppers; they’re just not ready to make a purchase! But encouraging action is Amazon’s way of attempting to persuade buyers.
So why does Amazon make you physically click to clip a coupon?
As many of us know, Amazon lists coupons as a clickable option instead of an automatic application.
The goal of requiring the click action is to feel like you’re being rewarded by putting in the effort, thus leading to customers following through with a purchase.
It may seem mindless to many, but think about it… Isn’t it a good feeling to order something at a further discounted price that you physically applied?!
We’ve seen companies including Target following suit where you must manually save a Target Circle promo to your account in order to have it discounted at checkout. Even if you shop in person at Target, unless you previously saved the promo to your account and used your phone number at checkout, you won’t get the lower price!
Beyond having the psychological effect of encouraging purchases, it keeps shoppers right where Amazon wants them…on Amazon.com.
Did you know there’s an Amazon coupon page where you access all of the available clippable savings in one spot? Not only is this convenient for shoppers, but it encourages them to stay on Amazon rather than venturing to other sites like Groupon to score savings that could be used anywhere, rather than exclusively on Amazon.com.
It’s worth noting shopping this dedicated coupon page will apply the discounts automatically, saving you that extra step of clipping the coupon yourself. However, we can’t guarantee this will make you any less tempted to click that shiny yellow “Place Your Order” button. 😉
What are your thoughts on this coupon clipping practice? Let us know in the comments!
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The amazon coupon page can be a bit all over the place and I sometimes get discouraged with it
How do you access this page from the Amazon site? Thanks
Hey there! You can find it through the link above or right here – https://amzn.to/36ii4lf
And bookmark it if that is helpful!
Very interesting and informative article. I definitely agree that clipping that coupon makes it more likely I’ll follow through with an order. There may be more than one virtual shopping cart out there with something I’ve been deciding on (or in some cases, waiting for a free shipping day or other coupon)! Thanks for the info. š
You’re so welcome, Tracey! ā¤ļø
If you delay your purchase at checkout too long, the clip coupon subtraction will be gone, and checkout will then display only the original posted price with tax on that amount. It happened to me with a DVD. Lost out on minus $2.95 from the pretax subtotal as I recall.
People I know are stupid. I have told them about couponing and they look at me like I am crazy. They say thank you but I can afford to pay full price. Wow.
The rationale I’ve always heard (since the days of paper coupons) is that some customers are willing to pay full price, some aren’t, and the store wants both to make a purchase. If the coupon applied automatically, the customer willing to pay full price would not be fully “milked.” It does make sense, but it’s still annoying.
Thanks for the coupon page! I didn’t know about that.
I found this article very informative when I read it on cnn š I think I shared it with you guys Iām glad you wrote about it š
LOL! Amazon learned from JCPenney’s mistake. The one where their marketing announced they were getting rid of coupons and just lowering prices and women stopped buying there because they didn’t feel like they were getting a good deal.