It's the wave of the future and the modern internet age. It's also more convenient for shoppers to use e-coupons versus printing and clipping coupons, having to organize them and fiddling with them while navigating the grocery aisles to make sure you enjoy the savings.
Grocery e-coupons work easily as you can visit the site, load the coupons to your particular grocery loyalty card and go shopping. They are growing in popularity all of the time and this trend is expected to continue.
For families trying to enjoy added savings on their grocery bill, participation in the e-coupon programs in addition to traditional couponing will net extra savings. With rising grocery prices, this is a welcome thing for most families.
While there are a few e-coupon companies and programs out there, today we will take a look at Saving Star. At first glance, Saving Star may seem like the new kid on the block as more are familiar with programs like Cellfire. They really were one of the earliest rather than the new kid on the block, but the program has undergone some changes from it's original form.
Saving Star was founded by CEO David Rochon and President Michael Libenson. While their names aren't probably familiar with you, prior to founding Saving Star they built the grocery segment for Upromise.com which was a pioneer in e-couponing. Most consumers would not know that though, unless they participate in Upromise, which is a college savings program. If you are one of it's 13 million members, you already know about Upromise.
In 2010, Saving Star became a spin-off from Upromise and went out on it's own. The grocery e-couponing aspect of Upromise is still there but now you can participate in Saving Star even if you don't want to save for your children's college. And even better in today's economic times, you can earn your rewards in cash.
Saving Star participation is free and is a little different than some of the normal e-couponing programs. Here's a summary of how it works and is a little different:
- You sign up and establish an account and add your grocery loyalty cards.
- You visit the site and "clip" the coupons figuratively speaking and they are added to your grocery loyalty cards.
- Once you redeem the coupons, the savings are added to your Saving Star account. You do not receive the coupon amount off your bill at the register.
- Your e-coupon savings post to your Saving Star account within 30 days or less of your purchase. According to their website, most credits happen between 2 days and 2 weeks after redemption.
- That is where Saving Star varies slightly from other similar programs of it's kind, where you usually get the face value of the coupon off your bill at the checkout. With Saving Star, it's credited to your account which you can redeem or withdraw once your balance reaches just $5.00.
- When you have a $5.00 or more balance in your Saving Star account for coupons redeemed, you can request your payout by bank deposit, Paypal or Amazon Gift Card.
Saving Star is still a young and growing program so one can anticipate it growing in scope as it develops. For now, around 100 retail chains participate in the program equating to around 100,000 stores. You can check out the Saving Star program website to see if your favorites participate. One of the nice and somewhat different things about Saving Star is they have some drug store chains participating too.
To maximize your savings, you should check your Saving Star account once a week to make sure you have added all the e-coupons available for products you plan on purchasing. The service updates it's e-coupons every Thursday. One you electronically "clip" the coupons, you can print yourself a list which will trigger reminders for you about the e-coupon expiration dates as well.
If you are a member of Upromise, you can also participate in Saving Star to make sure you are getting benefit of all the offerings within both programs.
Ready to get started enjoying this additional way to save through e-couponing? Visit the Saving Star program and get registered for free today. Once you add your grocery and drug store loyalty card numbers you are on your way to additional savings. It takes only minutes to visit the site periodically and update yourself on the e-coupons available. It's another nifty way to shop savvy and get more for your money.
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