The "Couponista" Culture

Hand stamped sterling silver charm necklace from Etsy shop The Dashing Pearl

While I was searching for cake ingredients for my last post, I stumbled across a Land-o-Lakes coupon…it

had not occurred to me that I could find coupons on Pinterest! But why not? Pinterest seems to have everything! So I decided to do a little research on coupons to see how pervasive they are in the world of Pinterest.

When I searched on “coupons”, I found hundreds of pins with links to coupon sites. Coupons were pinned to boards named “Deals, Sales, Savings,” “Saving Money,” “Smart Shopping,” “Couponing,” “Random

Print this coupon right from Pinterest!

Coupons,” “I am an Extreme Couponer,” and “Bargainista,” among others. Pinned to these boards were links to hundreds of coupon sites!

Pinned Walmart circular

I have classified the pins I found into 5 categories:

Clearinghouse pins that lead you to sites where you can find anything you could possibly want and where to find it. I like these pins because they serve as testimonials for the sites. And you can find everything you need in one place;

Sales Circular pins: These pins tell you about current deals at individual stores;

Couponing Boot Camp pins: “Couponing 101″ and “Extreme Couponing Classes” lead you to all kinds of advice on Couponing and getting the best deals;

A Pinterest user-endorsed coupon website

Printable Coupon pins. Some of these pins can be printed right from Pinterest or lead to a site with a variety of

One of the many Coupon Boot Camps

printable coupons;

Cyber Coupon pins. These pins lead to websites where you can pre-load your coupons electronically into a shopper savings account, print and bring it with you to the supermarket. You can search for sales and coupons in or around your zip code and sort by item or by store.

One of the most interesting things I discovered was that the coupon craze is dominated by women. They are not just consumers, they are businesswomen…moms who saw a way to save money in a troubled economy

Moms take the lead as couponing experts

and made couponing an industry. Words like “Couponista,” “Bargainista,” and sites like “Moola Saving Moms,” “Coupon Divas” and “Consumer Queens” are a far cry from the coupon clipper of yesteryear. Pinterest clearly shows that companies have had to adapt to the “Couponista” culture in order to sell their products. Clearly, the

Pin of  cyber  coupon site

“Couponista” has harnessed the power of Pinterest as a tool for the growing couponing industry.

I would be remiss if I did not mention my Etsy friends. No matter what the subject matter…I always find handcrafted items that are relevant. Take the thousands of gorgeous handcrafted coupon organizers and coupon trinkets, some of which are featured here and on my “Couponing 101″ pin board.

Coupon wallet found in Etsy shop Thumbprint Patterns

Yours in pinning,

Candice

Convo me here

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