RetailMeNot Launches Local Coupons

For some time I’ve been asking when the “coupon destination” would appear. Google Maps was a candidate but it has largely neglected the space.

However, the local coupon destination may have just arrived. Australia based RetailMeNot has launched 90,000 printable, local coupons through partnerships with Valassis, Money Mailer and ValPak. The site now claims 240,000 total coupons for online and local shopping.

I have some complaints and criticisms of the functionality and user experience but I’m sure those will be addressed. I won’t go into them here.

RetailMeNot has only been around for only two years but it has done what nobody else has been able to do, create a coupon destination and, arguably, a “brand” in the segment. (I’m sure I’ll get some emails over that statement.) It also ranks extremely well in search results. The addition of local coupons will only fuel the site’s popularity further.

Judy’s Book was trying to build something like this but wasn’t able to do so before shutting down (its assets were purchased and the site was relaunched).

Coupons are extremely popular in the recession but also very effective for advertisers. And they help “close the loop” between online advertising and offline tracking.

Coupons and coupon sites have seen huge traffic growth (per comScore) in the recent past:

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Related: AOL Shopping will relaunch with an emphasis on deals, discounts and coupons. AOL’s Shortcuts (haven’t heard much lately) was a coupon/loyalty card initiative. In a related vein, Caliber Data was developing a loyalty card/coupon based marketing program where local merchants would pay on a per-transaction basis.