This article considers coupons for ready-to-eat(RTE) breakfast cereals one of the most heavily
couponed products.The time spanned by our study includes a rapid escalation in couponing,
and preceded attempts by some of the manufacturers stop issuing coupons. We assess whether
the relationship between coupons and shelf prices is consistent with the widely expressed view
that coupons are primarily a tool to allow price discrimination. Finding that it is not,we exploit the
richness of our data to document couponing patterns across brands and cities and over time.By
supplying as many descriptive statistics as possible,we seek to provide insight on the empirical
relevance of other theories for why manufacturers use coupons