This post may sound a bit bold, but John Jantsch writing for OPEN Forum has personally witnessed three separate businesses dramatically impacted by their participation with Chicago based collective buying phenomenon Groupon.
Groupon is a collective buying discount service. Actually, that idea has been around in variations for years, both on and offline, but Groupon seems to have figured out how to make it simple and social.
Every day subscribers get one great deal offer for their community by way of email. Offers are from local businesses and are come with a price tag in order to earn a discount — something like $35 for an $80 massage. Groupon is working in about 30 cities currently, with near term plans to go to 80.
The offer doesn’t become good until some prescribed number of people elect to buy it. If a subscriber decides to buy the offer they often pass it along to friends to make sure the deal happens.
Everywhere I go now, I hear people gushing about the addictive nature of the daily deal. As of this writing, over four million Groupons have been purchased in the fifteen months the company has been offering them.
On top of the deals the buyers receive, Groupon users are getting hooked on the hyper-local discoveries of new businesses in their community. Groupon founder and CEO Andew Mason claims that one of the driving forces behind Groupon is this notion of exploring your own back yard.
From the business owners standpoint, Groupon has a very practical and tried and true advertising offering — put a discounted offer out there and only pay when you attract new business.
Photo by Groupon.