> As a result, people are more often looking for, and more socially comfortable using, coupons.
I think the coupon argument is a red herring. The way I see it, there are two types of coupons: the price discrimination variety and the early-adopter-advantage variety. The former category includes things like grocery flyers and has a certain stigma associated with it -- which is why it works (if everyone clipped grocery coupons, the store would be making less money, not more). The latter category is where Groupon fits in, and I don't think it has the same stigma as the former, nor do I think the recession will affect it as much.
Flashing your iPhone to save 60% on surfing lessons sends different social-status signals than clipping newspaper coupons to save 25 cents on canned soup.
Comments
> As a result, people are more often looking for, and more socially comfortable using, coupons.
I think the coupon argument is a red herring. The way I see it, there are two types of coupons: the price discrimination variety and the early-adopter-advantage variety. The former category includes things like grocery flyers and has a certain stigma associated with it -- which is why it works (if everyone clipped grocery coupons, the store would be making less money, not more). The latter category is where Groupon fits in, and I don't think it has the same stigma as the former, nor do I think the recession will affect it as much.
Flashing your iPhone to save 60% on surfing lessons sends different social-status signals than clipping newspaper coupons to save 25 cents on canned soup.