Latest news with #AgriFoodAnalyticsLab
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Does anyone still clip coupons? Consumers want deals, but how they find them is shifting
For some, it's a ritual — sitting down with that week's flyers and clipping out coupons for the best deals. For others, it's a lifestyle. Couponing entered the lexicon in the 1950s, and then came Extreme Couponing, the popular 2010 U.S. television show that ran for four seasons. And for many, it's a necessity. The majority of Canadians are actively seeking ways to save on food costs, including using more coupons, according to a 2024 report from the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Halifax. But as a wave of reports shows a decline in coupon distribution and redemption, and amid the increasing use of AI to hunt down deals, is couponing in danger of becoming a lost art? Changes in the coupon landscape "I think it's that the type of couponing is changing," said Kathleen Cassidy, who runs the popular social media couponing account Living on a Loonie. Cassidy, who lives in Toronto, regularly posts deals and couponing tips to her hundreds of thousands of followers across social media. "We're seeing a lot more couponing entering the digital sphere. It's more of the cash-back apps, the digital coupons, the loyalty points," Cassidy told CBC News. Yet coupon use, both physical and digital, has been declining in the U.S. since the 1990s and fell by over 50 per cent between 2006 and 2019, according to a new study in the Journal of Political Economy. U.S. marketers distributed just 50 billion coupons in 2024, compared to 330 billion in 2010, according to data compiled by marketing and commercial-printing services company RRD for the Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile, traffic to U.S. retail websites via generative AI jumped 1,200 per cent in February compared to six months earlier, according to a March report from Adobe. While Adobe added the traffic was "modest" compared to other channels like paid search or email, its "growth has been notable — doubling every two months since September 2024." The company also surveyed 5,000 U.S. consumers for its report, and found 39 per cent used AI for online shopping. Of those, 43 per cent said they used AI to seek deals. The evolutions of coupons Coupons date back to at least 1887, when Coca-Cola started distributing them as a way to boost the drink's profile, according to the History Channel. They've since evolved from those traditional newspaper clippings with in-store redemption, according to a report from Snipp, a promotions tech company. The 1990s saw the rise of digital discount codes, email promotions and printable coupons, the report says, and the COVID-19 pandemic caused digital coupons to surpass physical ones. The problem, however, is that the landscape for digital deals is currently "overcrowded," according to the report. And that may be why consumers are increasingly using AI to cut through the noise, said Tripat Gill, an associate economics professor at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont. WATCH | The rise of the Canadian coupon clippers (From 2011): Gill said using AI reduces "search cost," or the time and effort people spend searching for products. AI services are marketed as incredibly intelligent and competent, so it makes sense for consumers to try using them to find discounts, said Matthew Guzdial, an assistant computing science professor at the University of Alberta. But there's a problem, the experts agree: "Unfortunately, it doesn't really work," Guzdial said. 'Life-changing shopping hack' TikTok is full of Gen Z consumers sharing how AI has helped them save money, from coupon codes and hunting down the best deals, to budgeting help. "My life-changing shopping hack was when I saw a girl on my [for you page] say she uses ChatGPT for discount codes," one TikToker wrote alongside a video in May. AI can offer a discreet way for consumers to seek out cost-saving tips, says Guzdial, but the models are often wrong. Coupons change regularly, and AI models at this point don't have the ability to verify if a code found in their training data from months or years ago is still valid, he said. In most cases, a chatbot can't even search the web as part of an answer, Guzdial said. Gill says that when it comes to shopping research, how helpful AI can be depends on how narrow and focused you are in your prompt. For instance, Gill says he recently asked Shopping GPT (a feature within ChatGPT) for help finding a digital camera for his teen daughter that cost under $100. It provided him with three links, two of which led him to products that weren't even cameras. But had he asked, "Find me a pink-coloured digital camera for a teen girl for under $100 from Amazon," the results would have been more reliable, he added. Can AI hunt down deals? As an informal test, CBC News asked ChatGPT if it could find a discount code for Old Navy Canada. It quickly pulled up a code for 20 per cent off. However, when CBC attempted to apply the code, it was "invalid or or expired." The same thing happened with the next three codes ChatGPT pulled up, as well as with the codes provided by CouponGPTs, an AI-powered coupon finding tool. Next, CBC asked ChatGPT if it could find a discount for a slow cooker. It suggested the Chefman stainless steel slow cooker from Giant Tiger for 50 per cent off. But CBC couldn't locate that deal, or even that slow cooker, on Giant Tiger's website. On closer inspection, the link ChatGPT cited as a reference was from a Nov. 23, 2014 entry on the Smart Canucks blog. Cassidy, the Toronto coupon influencer, says she hasn't tried AI to find deals. But she's not looking through paper flyers, either. She uses the Flipp app to look through digital flyers every week, which she cross-references with different cash-back apps and digital coupons. "You used to see a lot of physical coupons ... whether they were in flyers or inserts or at the stores on products," Cassidy said. "There still are physical coupons out there, but there maybe aren't as many available as there used to be."
CBC
6 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Does anyone still clip coupons? Consumers want deals, but how they find them is shifting
For some, it's a ritual — sitting down with that week's flyers and clipping out coupons for the best deals. For others, it's a lifestyle. Couponing entered the lexicon in the 1950s, and then came Extreme Couponing, the popular 2010 U.S. television show that ran for four seasons. And for many, it's a necessity. The majority of Canadians are actively seeking ways to save on food costs, including using more coupons, according to a 2024 report from the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Halifax. But as a wave of reports shows a decline in coupon distribution and redemption, and amid the increasing use of AI to hunt down deals, is couponing in danger of becoming a lost art? Changes in the coupon landscape "I think it's that the type of couponing is changing," said Kathleen Cassidy, who runs the popular social media couponing account Living on a Loonie. Cassidy, who lives in Toronto, regularly posts deals and couponing tips to her hundreds of thousands of followers across social media. "We're seeing a lot more couponing entering the digital sphere. It's more of the cash-back apps, the digital coupons, the loyalty points," Cassidy told CBC News. Yet coupon use, both physical and digital, has been declining in the U.S. since the 1990s and fell by over 50 per cent between 2006 and 2019, according to a new study in the Journal of Political Economy. U.S. marketers distributed just 50 billion coupons in 2024, compared to 330 billion in 2010, according to data compiled by marketing and commercial-printing services company RRD for the Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile, traffic to U.S. retail websites via generative AI jumped 1,200 per cent in February compared to six months earlier, according to a March report from Adobe. While Adobe added the traffic was "modest" compared to other channels like paid search or email, its "growth has been notable — doubling every two months since September 2024." The company also surveyed 5,000 U.S. consumers for its report, and found 39 per cent used AI for online shopping. Of those, 43 per cent said they used AI to seek deals. The evolutions of coupons Coupons date back to at least 1887, when Coca-Cola started distributing them as a way to boost the drink's profile, according to the History Channel. They've since evolved from those traditional newspaper clippings with in-store redemption, according to a report from Snipp, a promotions tech company. The 1990s saw the rise of digital discount codes, email promotions and printable coupons, the report says, and the COVID-19 pandemic caused digital coupons to surpass physical ones. The problem, however, is that the landscape for digital deals is currently "overcrowded," according to the report. And that may be why consumers are increasingly using AI to cut through the noise, said Tripat Gill, an associate economics professor at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont. WATCH | The rise of the Canadian coupon clippers (From 2011): Rise of the Coupon Clippers 14 years ago Duration 5:53 Gill said using AI reduces "search cost," or the time and effort people spend searching for products. AI services are marketed as incredibly intelligent and competent, so it makes sense for consumers to try using them to find discounts, said Matthew Guzdial, an assistant computing science professor at the University of Alberta. But there's a problem, the experts agree: "Unfortunately, it doesn't really work," Guzdial said. 'Life-changing shopping hack' TikTok is full of Gen Z consumers sharing how AI has helped them save money, from coupon codes and hunting down the best deals, to budgeting help. "My life-changing shopping hack was when I saw a girl on my [for you page] say she uses ChatGPT for discount codes," one TikToker wrote alongside a video in May. AI can offer a discreet way for consumers to seek out cost-saving tips, says Guzdial, but the models are often wrong. Coupons change regularly, and AI models at this point don't have the ability to verify if a code found in their training data from months or years ago is still valid, he said. In most cases, a chatbot can't even search the web as part of an answer, Guzdial said. Gill says that when it comes to shopping research, how helpful AI can be depends on how narrow and focused you are in your prompt. For instance, Gill says he recently asked Shopping GPT (a feature within ChatGPT) for help finding a digital camera for his teen daughter that cost under $100. It provided him with three links, two of which led him to products that weren't even cameras. But had he asked, "Find me a pink-coloured digital camera for a teen girl for under $100 from Amazon," the results would have been more reliable, he added. Can AI hunt down deals? As an informal test, CBC News asked ChatGPT if it could find a discount code for Old Navy Canada. It quickly pulled up a code for 20 per cent off. However, when CBC attempted to apply the code, it was "invalid or or expired." The same thing happened with the next three codes ChatGPT pulled up, as well as with the codes provided by CouponGPTs, an AI-powered coupon finding tool. Next, CBC asked ChatGPT if it could find a discount for a slow cooker. It suggested the Chefman stainless steel slow cooker from Giant Tiger for 50 per cent off. But CBC couldn't locate that deal, or even that slow cooker, on Giant Tiger's website. On closer inspection, the link ChatGPT cited as a reference was from a Nov. 23, 2014 entry on the Smart Canucks blog. Cassidy, the Toronto coupon influencer, says she hasn't tried AI to find deals. But she's not looking through paper flyers, either. She uses the Flipp app to look through digital flyers every week, which she cross-references with different cash-back apps and digital coupons. "You used to see a lot of physical coupons ... whether they were in flyers or inserts or at the stores on products," Cassidy said. "There still are physical coupons out there, but there maybe aren't as many available as there used to be."
CTV News
05-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
‘A luxury item': Canadians may need to budget for barbecue season as meat prices soar
Since the beginning of the year, beef prices in Canada have surged by more than 30 per cent. As summer approaches, Canadians will be wanting to fire up the barbecue, but the reality of rising meat prices might mean fewer backyard cookouts this year. The 'shockingly high prices' are a case study in supply-side economics and market dysfunction, said Sylvain Charlebois, the director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, in a news release. 'In Canada, beef is no longer just food—it's a financial decision,' Charlebois said. 'What was once a staple of the summer grill is now a luxury item, priced out of reach for many families.' Statistics Canada said meat prices have risen by the following amounts since January: striploin is up 34.2 per cent top sirloin 33.7 per cent rib cuts nearly 12 per cent pork rib cuts and chicken breasts have each risen 5.9 per cent The 6.8 per cent increase in the price of meatless burger patties suggests the trend extends into other grocery aisles. Charlebois said there are several factors causing the surge. Canada's beef cow inventory decreased by 1.2 per cent from last year to 3.38 million head – the lowest number since 1989. This signals more than just a cyclical decline, Charlebois said. Cattle producers are leaving the industry while prices are good and investing in less volatile sectors or changing to crop production. 'In short, the Canadian beef industry is retreating and becoming increasingly risk-averse,' said the release. The U.S. is experiencing a similar but less severe trend. Their beef herd declined by 0.5 per cent to 27.9 million head and their prices rose but not like in Canada. Boneless sirloin rose 5.7 per cent in the U.S. compared to 22 per cent in Canada. Ground beef rose by 10.8 per cent in the U.S. compared with 23 per cent. Canada's expansive geography, transportation costs, limited number of federally licensed producers, carbon pricing and higher labour costs all contribute to the problem, but Charlebois said we cannot rule out industry collusion. The Canadian Competition Bureau has been less active in quelling anti-competitive behaviour than the U.S., where a 2022 investigation led to several large payouts from major meat packers. Beef consumption fell by 7.1 per cent per capita in 2023 and 2.1 per cent in 2024 in Canada. Charlebois said this is a 'structural shift in consumer behaviour.' 'Beef is increasingly seen as a luxury item, with ground beef becoming the primary choice for budget-conscious households still committed to red meat,' he said. Charlebois said the trend is unfortunate since beef is one of the most natural and sustainable sources of protein that's available to Canadians. 'Canadian ranchers and processors have made significant strides in improving environmental stewardship and animal welfare, often without fanfare,' he said. 'As a whole, beef delivers exceptional nutritional value, supports rural economies, and offers a level of traceability and food safety few protein alternatives can match.'
CTV News
05-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Soaring beef prices push summer staples out of reach for many Canadians, study shows
A new report from Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab says beef is quickly becoming a luxury item in Canada, with soaring prices changing the way many families approach summer barbecues. 'In Canada, beef is no longer just food—it's a financial decision." Sylvain Charlebois, the study's lead author, said. 'What was once a staple of the summer grill is now a luxury item, priced out of reach for many families.' The study points to steep price hikes since January. The cost of striploin is up 34.2 per cent, top sirloin has increased 33.7 per cent, and rib cuts have jumped nearly 12 per cent. Even pork ribs, chicken breasts and plant-based burgers have seen price increases of roughly six per cent. A shrinking cattle inventory is a key factor. Canada's beef cow population has dropped to its lowest level since 1989, with many producers exiting the industry amid volatility, according to the report. Other pressures include transportation costs, carbon pricing, labour expenses, and limited processing capacity. The report also raises concerns about a lack of regulatory scrutiny, noting that, unlike the U.S., Canadian authorities have not taken major action on possible price fixing in the beef sector. The result is Canadians are eating less beef, according to the study. Per capita consumption fell 7.1 per cent in 2023 and another 2.1 per cent this year. 'Consumers will continue to enjoy beef,' says Charlebois. 'But with moderation, and on occasions that justify the cost.'
