Coupons may be time consuming to cut out, but they can mean big savings and offer good incentives to persuade people to buy certain products. For example, some 55% of female coupon clippers bought a different brand than usual because of a coupon offer, a recent survey found.

People who use coupons and store-loyalty cards save an average of $678 a year, or more than 10 cents of every grocery dollar. Nearly one-third (30%) of people said they made a special trip to the store to use a coupon, according to the survey conducted by ShopSmart, a shopping magazine published by Consumer Reports,

The survey also found that nearly two-thirds (65%) of women have at least one store loyalty card where they grocery shop while 56% use coupons occasionally. Newspapers were the most popular source of coupons, the survey found.

On average, a woman who uses coupons will collect seven and use four, the poll found. And three quarters of female grocery shoppers always or often watch the price scanner at checkout with 19% of those finding errors.

Some 1,014 women 18 and older were interviewed between Nov. 15-18 for the ShopSmart poll.

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