Nov 11, 2009 10:11 pm US/Eastern
3 On Your Side: Get Discounts With Groupon
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
When you get a great deal, do you like to share the good news with others? Well get ready! 3-On Your Sides Jim Donovan tells us about the latest way people in our area are getting discounts of 50 percent or more on products and services. Their secret? Not keeping it a secret and telling as many people as they can.
From fine wine to fabulous treats, it's all available at deeply discounted prices. But you can only get them if you spread the word, and fast! It's kind of like that old shampoo commercial, where one person tells two friends, then they tell two friends, and so on, and so on, and so on.
It all starts by signing up online at Groupon.com. Groupon is combination of the words group and coupon. The site offers a daily deal delivered via e-mail. But the discount is only good if a certain number of people take advantage of it, that's where the "group" comes in.
When Scoop DeVille in Center City offered $20 worth of ice cream for only $8, a minimum of 50 people had to pre-pay online for the deal to go through. 125 people actually end up responding to the offer and they all scooped up the savings.
Matthew Shore of Scoop DeVille says, "What drew me into this was the fact that it was only available one day, that you had one 24 hour period in which to buy it and then it was gone. So you needed to jump on it right then and there."
So if you snooze, you lose. When deals don't attract enough participants, the deal is cancelled and no one is billed. A counter on the Web site helps keep track of interest throughout the day.
Jamie Gargani of Poise Dance Studio watched the Groupon Web site as people responded to her offer of half price dance lessons.
She says, "The number just kept going up and up and you know it was really exciting, it was a great day for us."
When all was said and done, Gargani was very pleased with the results. She says, "I think we ended up with 58 new students and it's huge."
Deals can run the gamut, involving everything from massages to merlot.
At The Wine School of Philadelphia, the Groupon discount allowed participants to learn for less.
According to Kevin Wallace they offered a $50 gift certificate for half off on Groupon. He says, "All you had to do was pay $25, it was 50 percent off, it was a really good deal."
Adding that the response the school received was amazing. Which goes to show you that in a tough economy, Groupon is a win-win for everyone.
There is no fee to join Groupon. Once the offer gets enough interest, the deal is on, your credit card is charged, and within 24 hours, you'll get a certificate sent via e-mail to use for the product or service.
Groupon operates in over 30 cities across the nation.
For more information about the companies mentioned in this report, click on the links below.
RELATED LINKS:
Groupon
Scoop DeVille
Poise Dance Studio
Wine School of Philadelphia
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