How often do online stores offer coupon codes? (data from 300,000 retailers)

Based on SimplyCodes' shopping data analysis of over 300,000 online stores, only about 40% currently offer at least one verified, working coupon code. That works out to roughly 3 verified coupon codes per store per month across all the 300,000 retailers we covered.

Among the roughly 120,000 stores that currently do have at least one verified code, the average is about 11 codes per store, though inventory varies widely by category and retailer size.

According to our analysis, 62% of shoppers actively search for coupon codes before checking out. But with only 40% of online stores carrying a verified, working code at any given time, the majority of those searches are coming up empty for the store they are trying to shop at.

Which stores offer the most codes

Many stores offer coupon codes frequently, many offer them infrequently, and some don’t offer coupons at all. If you want to avoid not seeing a code 60% of the time, here is a list of stores that not only have codes, but a ton to choose from:

What discounts are actually available?

Percentage-off discounts are by far the most common promotion type, accounting for 87% of all coupon codes. Among those, the median best available discount is 15% off, with the average slightly higher at about 19%. The remaining 13% of stores offer fixed dollar-amount discounts as their primary promotion.

How has coupon availability changed year over year?

• Average codes per store: 7.4 → 9.7 (+31%)
• Median codes per store: 2 → 2 (no change)
• Average best discount: 19.4% → 18.9% (slight dip)
• Total stores tracked: 78,032 → 95,675 (+23%)

Comparing February 2025 to February 2026, the average number of healthy coupon codes per store rose from 7.4 to 9.7 — a 31% increase. However, the median held flat at 2 codes per store across both periods, suggesting that inventory growth is concentrated among larger retailers rather than broadly distributed. Average discount depth dipped slightly from 19.4% to 18.9%.

Average verified codes by category

Beauty and Apparel lead in coverage, with over half of stores carrying at least one verified code. At the other end, Software and AI retailers rarely offer working coupon codes — fewer than 1 in 5 stores in those categories have a confirmed discount available.

Why do so few stores have working coupon codes?

The 40% number surprises most shoppers, but it makes sense once you understand how the coupon ecosystem actually works.

Most online stores were never built around discounting. The majority of the 300,000+ retailers in our dataset are small to mid-size businesses — independent shops, niche brands, DTC startups. Many of them simply don't use coupon codes as a marketing strategy. They might run a sale here and there, but a constantly refreshed library of promo codes isn't part of their playbook. Coupons tend to be a tool of larger retailers with dedicated promotions teams, which is why the average is dragged up by a small group of major brands while the median sits at zero.

Codes expire faster than most people realize. A coupon code isn't a permanent fixture — it's closer to a carton of milk. Our health-decay model shows that codes lose their verified status quickly, at a rate of 1–2 health points per day depending on the code type. A code that's confirmed working on Monday might be expired by the following week. This constant churn means that even stores that regularly offer promotions may show zero verified codes on any given day if their latest batch has aged out.

Certain categories just don't discount. Travel, software, entertainment, and AI companies are structurally less likely to offer coupon codes. Their business models often rely on subscriptions, dynamic pricing, or margin structures that don't support percentage-off promotions. Meanwhile, categories like beauty and apparel have long histories of promotional culture — loyalty programs, seasonal sales, influencer codes — which is why they dominate the top of our category rankings.

The gap between "listed" and "verified" is the real story. Across the internet, you'll find countless websites claiming to have codes for almost every store. But when we actually test those codes at checkout, the vast majority don't work. The difference between what's advertised and what's confirmed functional is the core finding of this analysis — and it's why the question "how often do stores offer coupon codes" deserves a more honest answer than most coupon sites are willing to give.

Methodology

This analysis is based on SimplyCodes' proprietary coupon verification database as of February 2026. "Verified codes" refers to coupon codes that have been tested and confirmed working (classified as "green" in SimplyCodes' health system). The store-level analysis covers 303,673 active, shoppable online merchants tracked in SimplyCodes' merchant database. Discount and inventory trend data uses SimplyCodes' monthly coupon summary, which tracks healthy code counts after applying a health-decay model (1 point/day for evergreen codes, 2 points/day for non-evergreen). Year-over-year comparisons use February 2025 and February 2026 as the reference periods. Category classifications follow SimplyCodes' internal merchant taxonomy.