October 4th, 2010, 15 Comments »
Can we talk about Groupon? I’m struck by how rapidly the meme that is the deal-of-the-day site has spread through our culture.
The service is about 20 months old, and they’ve already generated an estimated $350 million in revenue, sold 9.4 million individual deals and been valued at over a billion dollars.
This year’s biggest online hit is an email newsletter offering you coupons. How old school is that?
That’s an interesting notion, but I’m more interested in Groupon as a touchstone for our post-consumer times. Consider recent offers I’ve received:
- Admission to the Maritime Museum
- Hot yoga
- Massage
- ‘Manly grooming services’
- Fitness boot camp
Because the price of everything essential is so easily within reach for most of us, we’re ready to spend our money on crap that we absolutely do not need.
77% of Groupon users are women, and I also think there’s a connection to the kind of it-girl celebrity worship that’s so present in our culture these days. People admire Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian and the like in part because they’re rich, and can indulge whatever urge they desire. Women have become the more powerful consumers in our society, and their desire for luxury goods is piqued by movies like Sex in the City and product-oriented magazines like Lou Lou. Buying Groupon deals provides a way for middle-class people to scratch an upper-class itch.
But, then, so what? If people have money to spend, I’m happier if they’re buying services (which seem to comprise a big chunk of the Groupon offers) instead of more stuff. Services, I’d imagine, are a far more sustainable purchase.
What do you think of Groupon? Is it a great service or does it encourage irresponsible consumerism?
This is the first in at least a couple of posts about Groupon. Next week I’m going to interview a hardcore Groupon user.
Speaking of making sustainable choices, Vancouverites may want to check out Ethical Deal, a ‘green Groupon’.
15 Comments »
September 25th, 2007, 8 Comments »
As I’ve mentioned, we’re planning on spending two or three months in Morocco in the new year. We plan to visit a couple of towns to see what we like, and then find some medium-term, Internet-enabled accommodation.
When we first arrive, we’ll obviously need somewhere to stay. We turned once again to Luxury Link, an auction site for luxury travel (I have a soft, slightly rotten spot for lovely, unusual lodgings). We were the successful and sole bidders on four nights at the awesome-looking Jnane Tamsna, a guest house in the Palmeraie on the outskirts of Marrakesh.
As the only bidders, we paid the minimum price for Jnane Tamsna–about CAN $950 for four nights, breakfast every day, one dinner, a guide for a half-day and sundry other tidbits. The website put the retail value of the package at $2500. Even if they’re padding those numbers, that’s still a fantastic deal.
We got a similar killer deal on Luxury Link for the mind-buggeringly luxurious Boscolo Dei Dogi Hotel (some photos of our room) when we visited Venice.
Minds Change, Should Post Titles?
When I originally booked our first trip with Luxury Link, I was pretty unhappy with the auction system, which differs from eBay’s. My subsequent happy experiences with Luxury Link has ameliorated those concerns, and a while ago I updated my earlier post to say so.
I’ve exchanged a few friendly emails with the folks at Luxury Link, who more or less asked me to change the title of that post, because of its SEO juice. I declined, but ever since I’ve wondered if I should.
Should I modify the post title to reflect my current thinking, or should blog posts remain archival reflections of my thinking on a given day in my past? I have written positively about Luxury Link since then, but haven’t knocked off that first post. It’s a trivial little test case (less trivial for the SEO-sensitive owners of Luxury Link), I suppose, and an issue I’ll encounter more often the older my blog gets.
What would you do?
UPDATE: I decided to change the title of that post to something more accurate, and reflect that in another update at the top of the post.
8 Comments »