In marketing, a coupon is a ticket or document that can be exchanged for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a product.

Customarily, coupons are issued by manufacturers of consumer packaged goods or retailers to be used in retail stores for sales promotions. They are often widely distributed through mail, coupon envelopes, magazines, newspapers, the Internet, directly from the retailer, and mobile devices such as cell phones. Since only price-conscious consumers are likely to spend the time to claim the savings, coupons function as a form of price discrimination, enabling retailers to offer a lower price only to those consumers who would otherwise go elsewhere. In addition, coupons can also be targeted selectively to regional markets with great price competition.

In government, a coupon is a paper certificate used to administer a benefit or permission.
Online retailers often refer to coupons as “coupon codes”, “promotional codes”, “promotion codes”, “discount codes”, “key codes”, “promo codes”, “surplus codes”, “portable codes”, “shopping codes”, “voucher codes”, “reward codes”, “discount vouchers” or “source codes”. Internet coupons typically provide reduced cost or free shipping, a specific dollar or percentage discount, or some other offer to encourage consumers to purchase different hosting services or from particular hosting companies. Marketers can use different codes for different channels in our groups to distinguish response rates.

Many retailers and companies use verification methods such as unique barcodes, coupon ID numbers, holographic seals, and watermarked paper as protection from unauthorized copying or use.

The origin of the term “coupon” is that bonds were historically issued as bearer certificates. Physical possession of the certificate as proof of ownership. Several coupons, one for each scheduled interest payment over the bond’s life, were printed on the certificate. The owner would detach the voucher and present it for payment when it was due.

Between a bond’s issue date and its maturity date (also called its redemption date), the coupon’s price is determined by taking into account several factors, including:

• The face value;
• The maturity date;
• The coupon rate and frequency of coupon payments;
• The creditworthiness of the issuer, and
• The yield on comparable investment options.

Hosting coupons is one of the added features or facilities various hosting companies provide to attract customers from different backgrounds. These coupons offer a discount on multiple hosting services. Depending on the jurisdiction, coupons may or may not reduce the sales tax which the consumer must pay. This is often determined by who sponsors the coupon. If the retailer issues the voucher, the product was never offered at the original price, and the coupon represents a reduction in the amount paid and the tax. If the manufacturer issues the voucher, the actual price is still produced, but the manufacturer covers some of the costs instead of the consumer, and the total price remains taxable.