The Sunday circular was once a premier destination for grandparents armed with scissors at the prospect of saving $0.15 on frozen peas. I used to roll my eyes and wonder how this habit could be a smart investment of time. Then I found FatWallet.com, a site that gives users 1%-30% cash back with a few clicks of the mouse. Suddenly, FatWallet = the Sunday ads and my mouse = scissors.
It was then I realized the apple didn’t fall far from the tree and my miserly roots were exposed. Even though I was effortlessly getting cold, hard cash back on my click investment, I was hesitant to reveal this find to friends. Saving money hasn’t ever had its time in the spotlight. Microsoft tried to build momentum around the concept with Bing Cashback, but the program never took off and sang its swan song July 30. Geek got chic, so why couldn’t frugality?
And then, just when parsimony was destined to be a virtue relegated to secrecy and smoke-filled rooms, along came Groupon.
It was a slow build at first; Facebook ads touting half-priced cupcakes and killer deals at pizzerias. Sign-up? Try and stop me! Eventually, loads of people were learning about new, interesting, and off-the-beaten-path restaurants every morning –with the prospect of eating out at deep discounts. Formula for success, right?
No, definitely not. These deals were still coming to inboxes where the cupcake-consuming cadres were drooling over emails in the privacy of their cubicles. Ho hum. Just another cooperative coupon program that will go the way of Entertainment Books – but at least with those you get a decent doorstop.
The reality was (and still is): coupons aren’t cool. Not only does the cost-benefit seem questionable, but they’re also currency of the lame, cheap, and self-conscious parts of our nature. For those reasons, they’re awkward. Throw down a BOGO on a date? Unthinkable. Chop the price of your haircut by 50%? Prepare to be judged, possibly marred. Whip out a coupon amongst a group of friends? Not unless you can withstand 12 sets of rolling eyes.
Why then are we comfortable haggling on eBay, searching exhaustively with Kayak, and tangling with the Priceline Negotiator for a cheap hotel room? The answer is simple: social context. This penny-pinching is done without looking anyone in the eye – neither customer service rep nor best friend. This phenomenon can be surmised with the following equations:
Private consumerism + promo code = WOOT!
Public consumerism + dog-eared coupon = BAIL!
Given this historic accumulation of ridicule, Groupon had to do something drastic. Sure, the online discount service was offering unthinkable deals for intriguing places, but it still had to beat the Shame Game and move deals from inbox to outgoing. Luckily it had an x-factor: digital media.
Groupon gave the age-old discount a fresh coat of warpaint in the battle against MSRP. Popular bistro? New bar? Concert tickets? All deals to share with friends and facilitate group outings over Facebook, Twitter, and other networks. To encourage conversation, Groupon played another brilliant card by incentivizing users to share deals via a link eligible for account credit if friends got their Group-on. More recently (and awesomely), the program released mobile apps that simplify the process of buying, sharing, and using deals. Not only does this add value for users and facilitate buying (it saved my freakin’ payment info!), it distances a Groupon even further from the rough-edged wad in your back pocket.
By embracing digital platforms and sparking word-of-mouth, Groupon has achieved great success; not only in making coupons acceptable to the social masses, but also expanding nationally and globally. In a textbook case of imitation as a form of flattery, that success has spawned numerous socially-driven deal sites from programs as niche as wahanda and as mainstream as foodie resource Yelp. With Groupon, future generations have another word for coupon – one that doesn’t come with a side dish of chagrin.
As Groupon continues to grow and its competition multiplies, one must wonder: Are we molding consumer behavior around the daily deal? Possibly, but that’s a separate blog post. In the meantime, enjoy savings free from shame - and without the paper cuts.
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