For some, spending money is a whole lot of fun. Spending money on food, spending money on clothes, spending money on activities, it can be fun. Being a broke college student, however, takes most of the fun out of frivilous spending. That’s why it’s a good thing there are so many ways to save money on items you would normally spend full dollar on.
A rising trend in the shopping world is the invention of “daily deals.” Websites like Groupon.com, LivingSocial.com and DailyDeals.com offer consumers the chance to save money and introduce them to new services.
For those who don’t know what a daily deal is, it’s a web service that allows people to receive a new coupon or deal, based on their interests and location, in their e-mail every day.
“I used Groupon to buy a ticket foy skydiving,” Andrew Nordstrom, 20, said “I haven’t used it yet, but I got it for about 100 bucks cheaper than usual. I love it.”
Groupon, one of the largest and most well-known deal-of-the-day websites was launched in November 2008 and has rapidly grown, now serving over 150 markets in the United States and 100 in Europe. It has gained over 35 million registered users and according to the Wall Street Journal, it’s “on pace to make $1 billion in sales faster than any other business, ever.”
From aerial dancing classes in Ferndale to half-off children’s haircuts in Northville, Groupon covers much of the space of the metro-Detroit area, offering something for everyone.
A Groupon deal is good for a 24-hour period. That means you have a day to figure out whether you’ll really use that skydiving coupon and whether it’s worth purchasing or not. Once it’s been decided that you are willing to jump out of a plane – as long as it’s 100 dollars cheaper than normal – or buy those crepes, you put in your credit card or debit card information, and your deal is e-mailed directly to you.
Living Social has the same set-up as Groupon, giving the user a chance to personalize their deals so they aren’t a college student getting deals for plastic surgery centers – let’s face it, even with a fantastic deal, we probably still can’t afford that. LivingSocial offers deals for a wider range of areas in Michigan, including Ann Arbor, for those who live on or near campus.
While both LivingSocial and Groupon give users the option to share their deals on social networking sites like Facebook, LivingSocial gives you your deal for free if three friends also purchase the same deal.
Groupon gives users the chance to refer their friends to Groupon, by giving them ten “Groupon dollars” for every friend they introduce to the service.
Both sites have also recently started offering discount vacations. Though airfare isn’t included, some of the deals are within a college student’s price range. There are such as a three-night stay in Mexico for four for $370. Divide that four ways and it’s less than $100 for each person – keep that in mind for spring break next year!
In addition to giving spenders the opportunity to save money on products and activities they already use, these daily deals also introduce people to new places to eat, shop and travel to.
“With gas being so expensive, I wouldn’t normally be up to venturing very far to check out places I’ve never been to before,” said Tina Milne, 19, a civil engineering major at Lawrence Technological University. “But if I’m saving money by using LivingSocial or Groupon, I think I can spare the gas money.”
These services give business owners exposure as well. Though some big-name companies use Groupon and LivingSocial, it’s also available to smaller businesses to use. In the day and age when these big-name companies are squashing the mom-and-pop shops, the little guys can retaliate and get their name out there.
Many more of these deal-of-the-day websites exist, just waiting to be used, with more popping up all the time. In addition to the afforementioned, Google Offers and Yahoo Deals are offering programs, and Amazon is now working on their own daily deal program, AmazonLocal, despite being a huge investor in LivingSocial.
Their site promises savings of at least 50 percent, and they are in the process of bringing AmazonLocal to cities across the country. There is no word on an official launch date, but it’s possible it might blow up like all of the other daily deals out there.
America loves to spend money — the only thing it likes more is spending a little money on the things they love.
