With the recession continuing to be uppermost in many people’s minds, there should be little surprise that one area of internet search which is booming is for discount vouchers, according to research reported in the Financial Times.

Internet searches in the UK for “discount vouchers” grew by 47.5 per cent in the year since last August, according to Hitwise, the internet research company. Google’s records show a 67 per cent jump in searches for the term “discount vouchers” between December 2007 and December 2008

Online discount vouchers are widely available, and offer savings on all manner of purchases. And the main users, according to Hitwise, are professional and white-collar workers, with about 70 per cent of them claiming to have used a money-off coupon in the last six months.

Recession-scarred consumers are embracing a thrifty habit that is likely to outlast any economic recovery: the use of online discount vouchers to save money on retail, food and other purchases.

Robin Goad, UK director of research at Hitwise, said searching for vouchers had become an established part of online shopping. “Consumer behaviour has changed so that people are looking online to research a product, looking at where to find the best price and finally doing a search to see if there is a voucher for it.”