How To Save A Ton of Money with GROUPON

The first thing I am going to say is, I can't believe I didn't do this before. I guess it was my own stupidity in believing that I couldn't get something for free. I am so used to over paying for everything, and I guess I thought that Groupon made you pay for things you really would never use. I didn't realize how wide of a scope Groupon had.

Recently my husband and I took a weekend trip to Branson and I decided to look up all of the touristy things we did on Groupon- an app I have on my phone, or the website. I kept getting emails from Groupon and ignored them as spam, but one day I decided to open one and I was intrigued by all of the specials. I noticed there was a search bar, so while in Branson I searched for all of the tourist attractions we were planning on going to and low and behold, there was a Groupon for EACH of them. I was shocked, and we ended up saving a bunch of money on our weekend, so I decided when I got home to do the same. There seems to be a GROUPON for everything!

I would first recommend downloading the Groupon app to your phone. Once you do this, local Groupons will come up when you open the app, but the search bar is very handy as well. You can search for literally anything and most of the time, I find something.

In order to explain this better- I am going to use a few of my recent experiences at Groupon to make you see how simply and easy it is to use, and how much money you can save.

In the past three weeks- here's how I have used my Groupon App.

1) My husband and I decided we wanted to go to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner, which is a local healthy restaurant. I took a stab at it and searched 'Groupon for Sweet Tomatoes' and low and behold- several showed up. I was about to get two adult meals for $11.00 and free drinks.

2) My husband had to go and pick up his dry cleaning the other day so I thought 'What the heck' and I looked up to see if there were any Groupons for dry cleaning. I found one where you spend $20 but you get $40. Since his dry cleaning is over $50 every time he picks it up, it was a fantastic deal.

3) My friends and I wanted to go to one of those painting classes where you paint with your friends and drink wine. I bought a Groupon for $25 when the tickets were $50. $25 gave you a $50 credit to take the class!

4) A few days ago I went to Applebee's for a salad for lunch with my co-workers- and of course I had the idea to look up a Groupon. BOOM! 20% off lunch!

5) My husband wanted to go and see Def Leppard, Styx and Tesla at the Starlight Theatre with his buddies. I looked for a Groupon and we got three tickets for $25.00, instead of the normal price of $50.50.

These are just a few examples of how I've used Groupon, but there is almost a Groupon for everything and there is no limit as to how many you use. I really think I'm crazy that I didn't think of this before.

Groupon was offered 6 billion dollars if Google could sink it's claws into the discount site and own the concept and idea. Groupon said no. (Good for them). Groupon isn't perfect, as it leaves some to be desired by the businesses that use them.

Carolyn M Brown wrote an article called the 10 Pros and Cons of Using Groupon, and I think she made some very good points.

From the article 10 Pros and Cons of Using Groupon by Carolyn M Brown:

Pros

1. It attracts a lot of consumers.

2. It advertises your business.

3. It helps move inventory.

4. It builds relationships.

5. It generates incremental revenue.

Cons

1. Deals attract low-end bargain seekers.

2. Deals hurt the brand.

3. Deals don't generate repeat customers.

4. Deals are not profitable.

5. There are better deals out there.


This is going to sound crass, but here's the thing about the problems with businesses running Groupons- I don't care, nor do the people who take advantage of the deals. They know what they are getting into by using Groupon for advertising and business. I am going to go ahead and keep searching for deals and save the money. They are very beneficial, they save a lot of money, and they allow you to travel or simply go out on a great budget. While Carolyn Brown, the author of the 'Pros and Cons' is right in that I probably won't be back to see the Titanic Museum for which I used a Groupon- I probably never would have gone to the museum in the first place without one!

When I was in college, I worked at a bar to pay my way through Europe every summer. We were an average University Pub. We had our regulars, the drunks who would come in every day, and then we had our party nights. However, on Sunday morning we would transform the old dumpy bar into a first class dining restaurant with the most amazing brunch in town. This brunch drew so much attention, people would line up outside to get in. The trick was, we advertised two-for-one brunches. Our 'product' was so good, we had a steady stream of clientele and on 'two-for-one' days we ran ragged- it was insane. Sure we had the people who would steal the roast beef in their purse on coupon days- or the non-tippers- or other undesirable clientele, but we still made money and our brand became known. We were the hottest brunch in the most unlikely neighbourhood for years. In my opinion, people who advertise through great deals with Groupon should focus on the good- and if it doesn't work out for them, simply stop using Groupon as a service.

Either way, I will continue using them!

One of the great things about Groupons is that you don't have to cut them out or print them. You can if you'd like, but you can always just look up the Groupon on your phone's app. The scan code will show up on your phone and the stores or attractions you use the Groupons at will simply scan the bar code. Once you've used the Groupon, your phone will say 'used.' It's very cool- and paperless- and there is always some beneficial karma when you save a tree!

If you are looking for more information on Groupon, you can see it here:

https://www.groupon.com/press/about-groupon

Website for customer support for Groupon:

https://www.groupon.com/customer_support?c=contact-us&division=minneapolis-s#pick-order

Story on how Groupon started:

https://www.groupon.com/customer_support?c=contact-us&division=minneapolis-s#pick-order