COLUMBUS, Ohio – With the slowly recovering economy pushing more consumers into coupon clippers, supermarket chains are trying to ease shoppers out of the paper coupon habit and into the world of digital coupons, the Columbus Dispatch reports.

Some grocery store chains, such as Meijer, are changing how they accept coupons, with Meijer being the most recent to stop doubling coupons—and pressing consumers to use digital coupons redeemed with a swipe of a store loyalty card. “Following recession-driven years of unusual redemption growth, marketers have adjusted their strategies,” said Charlie Brown, a vice president for NCH Marketing Services.

In 2012, redemption of coupons dropped 14.3%, despite manufacturers providing around the same number of coupon as in the year before, according to Inmar. During the first six months of 2013, coupon usage fell an additional 6.6%, according to Inmar. These declines came after a record 27% bump in redeeming coupons in 2009, buoyed by an 8% increase in coupons from manufacturers.

“I never saw a double-digit increase until 2008, and I never saw a double-digit decrease until last year,” said John Morgan, executive director of the Association of Coupon Professionals. As a result, marketers changed coupon offers to lower redemption rates by “clearly putting out less attractive offers,” said Morgan.

By focusing instead of beefing up its mPerks digital coupon program, Meijer has had digital coupon redemption rise four-fold over paper coupon redemption. Kroger has seen similar rates. “We are seeing customer shopping habits trending from less paper coupons and more toward digital deals,” said Jackie Siekmann, spokeswoman for Kroger’s Columbus Division. “Our loyalty coupon mailings, which are personalized and more specific to each customer, have redemption rates regularly topping 60% to 70%,” she said. “Redemption rates for the industry are typically 3% to 5%.”