Coupons.ca Review + $25 Toys "R" Us Giveaway! (Closed)

Alright, this one's for all my Canadian followers who love great deals!

....which means all my Canadian followers - because who doesn't love a great deal, right? ;)

I'd like to introduce you to coupons.ca, a coupon savings website that provides free downloadable and online coupons and coupon codes from top brand names like Dell, Expedia, Toys R Us, Old Navy, The Source and many more. The site was developed by SurfMyAds.com, which specializes in coupon technology.  Coupons.ca launched just a few months ago, but already features thousands of coupons from hundreds of brands across numerous categories, and supports both English and French languages.

Upon first visiting the site, you'll notice there are quite a few menus, forms and search options which may feel a tad overwhelming. However, it appears the site design team predicted this, as there is a helpful tutorial video embedded in the center of the page.

Katie, the friendly narrator, shows you how to locate coupon codes, redeem online coupons, print in-store coupons and share great deals you've discovered with other site visitors.

Here is how an example coupon looks. Notice that it includes the store name and image, a summary and description of the deal, a coupon code (if applicable), an expiry date (if applicable), a Redeem button, a link to other coupons from that store and social media options (more on this shortly).

One thing that confused me initially was the exact function of the Redeem button. I assumed that clicking this would bring me to a page with that particular discount highlighted. In most cases, however, the button simply takes you to the store's home page. If a coupon code was included, it's up to you to record this code and apply it at checkout. If no code was provided, the discount is embedded in the page and is automatically applied at checkout. In this case, it is vital that you click the Redeem button rather than navigating to the retailer's site separately in order for the coupon to be applied.

The site includes various tools for locating coupons. You can browse by category or store, or you can do a keyword search. I think that browsing by category would be especially nice when gift shopping, and viewing coupons by store is ideal for those who have favourite retailers. The search technology is fairly smart; if you type a full store name (e.g., "Old Navy" or "Kobo"), it brings you directly to the set of coupons for that store and if you type a more general keyword (e.g. "books") it attempts to display links to stores relevant to that keyword. However, it looks like there may still be room for improvement here as I tried a few other keywords (e.g., "jeans" and "barbie") which I noticed in particular coupon descriptions and these did not bring up any results.

Since the tutorial discusses printable coupons (for groceries, to be specific), I tried to find some of these but didn't have any luck! I asked my coupons.ca PR contact about this and she told me they are in the process of simplifying this feature by integrating a tab at the top leading directly to coupons you can download and print. In the meantime, visitors can distinguish between coupon types by the colour of the Redeem button; red for online coupons and green for printable coupons. This is good to know!

You may notice two special types of coupons on the site: featured coupons and popular coupons. It wasn't 100% clear to me what each of these were, so I asked my PR contact who clarified as follows:

• Featured Coupons are selected by the Coupons.ca team. These are offers which are of a particularly good value, only available for a short time, rare, etc. As such, the team would like to maximize the number of users who take advantage of these deals.

• Popular Coupons are based on actual usage; these are the coupons that users redeem the most.

I think that highlighting coupons this way is super helpful for finding the best deals out there.

One really nice aspect of the site is the social element. First of all, users can share new deals they have found via the handy form on the right side of the page.

Coupons submitted by users are systematically checked, tested and reviewed by the Coupons.ca team. If a user-submitted offer is determined to be invalid or a duplicate, it is removed from the site immediately.

Secondly, existing coupons can be liked, commented on, and easily shared via email, Facebook or Twitter.

One more thing I'd like to point out about Coupons.ca is that their team is incredibly dedicated to creating the absolute best online coupon source for Canadians! Since the site is still young, there are a few (inevitable) kinks getting worked out, but the team has been extremely quick and responsive resolving these issues as they arise. Furthermore, they are very open to receiving questions, comments and suggestions from visitors via their Contact Us page.

So what are you waiting for? Take a stroll over to Coupons.ca and check out all the great deals on your favourite products and brands!

But kick around here for just a sec longer, because we have a great giveaway for you as well!

Win It:

Coupons.ca has generously offered a $25 Toys "R" Us gift card to one lucky Canadian Manager to Mom reader!

To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Comments do not count as entries, however feel free to add a comment to remind yourself that you entered!





Disclosure:  The prize is being provided and shipped to the winner by Coupons.ca.  I received no financial compensation for writing my review or offering this giveaway.  This is my completely honest opinion above and may be different from yours.