Groupon.com is a web site where you can get coupons for businesses in your city for a huge discount if enough people decide that the deal is worth it to buy. For businesses looking to get attention or just to get people to check them out for a first time this is a great site to look into. And for consumers how can you not pass up a great deal from a restaurant or shop in your city.
I signed up earlier this week to get a daily email of the "coupon of the day" and have to say I am impressed. The first coupon that caught my eye was for a local Brewery and Restaurant that I have been wanting to check out for a while now. The coupon was a $25 value for $10 and needed 25 people to purchase this deal to make it a legit coupon. By the end of the day, 644 people bought the coupon. And I can't imagine how many times the promotional email was forwarded to friends that might also want to take advantage. I also used Facebook Connect to sign in to groupon so with one very easy click I could post this deal on my facebook feed for my "friends" to check out. Talk about VIRAL, Horny Goat Brewery could have paid a lot of money for advertising for this type of exposure. Instead, they let the community decide if the special deal/coupon was worth it and let them spread the word.
Today the deal in Milwaukee is a 1 hour Swedish Massage fromMilwaukee's Best Massage, $35 for a $70 value . I knew this coupon wasn't something I was interested in but I forwarded to my Wife who would be. I am pretty sure she never heard of this specific massage business before which is great for this small business as a way to broaden their brand reach in the local community. This deal only needed 30 people to purchase it and that happened at 7:00 am this morning and they are up to 164 coupons sold as of 9:45 am. What a great way to get people to try your services and to spread the word about your business.
Let us know your thoughts on Groupon.com or any other social coupon web sites below. Here are a few other articles that are talking about Groupon and online coupon sites.
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