Friday, 08 January 2010

• Groupon: Good for You, Good for Local Business

  
  

  
  I'm about to add a new site to our bargain hunting resource page—it's called Groupon, a service that offers a daily bargain on its homepage and to email subscribers.
  
  Groupon provides a mix of useful and offbeat deals, from bargains on produce and meals out to money off spa packages, amusement park tickets, golf lessons, and more.
  
  And the deals are good—like $65 for a pair of massages that normally costs $170. How does Groupon get merchants to agree to such madness? Well, that's where the group part comes in.
  
  On Groupon, each daily deal starts out as "off." Bargain hunters can sign up for the coupon (meaning, they enter their credit card information and go through a checkout process), but they only get charged if a designated number of customers show interest in the deal. It's like a guaranteed buy-in-bulk package for retailers. And after the deal is "on," people can still continue to buy coupons.
  
  Groupon offers pages for over 40 cities, including some international locations—so you know your deals are going to benefit local businesses!
  
  For example, today's deal for Atlanta features a $20 sandwich coupon on sale for $10. The deal switched to "on" after 125 customers signed up, and that number is now up to 352.
  
  Groupon also has a cute sense of humor—their scoop on the "killer" discounted sandwiches features mock endorsements by famous killers like Freddy Krueger.
  
  Thanks to Recessionwire for the tip!
  
  Do you seek out coupons for fun items like golf lessons, or only the bare essentials? What are your favorite online coupon resources?
  
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