My first Groupon(Singapore) deal bought!

Jun 20, 11 My first Groupon(Singapore) deal bought!

Group deal sites have been around for the longest time, and I actually signed up to receive updates for quite a few. However, I have not found any deals attractive enough to buy them. Mostly, the deals just didn’t seem all that attractive. Some of the deals are discounted off retail price, such that when you compare it to prices you can get at the shops, it’s only marginally cheaper. In other cases, the locations are not exactly the most convenient, so you usually won’t go or do that event on a wimp and would require a bit of schedule planning. I prefer a little bit of spontaneity in my life 🙂

But I finally did it! I bought the $35 for 1 Month Club Membership + 60 min Health Assessment + 4 VibroGym Sessions at Lifestyle Fitness (Worth $645) deal from groupon.sg. Essentially, this is not significantly cheaper than most commercial gyms. At some point of time, California Fitness or True Fitness were going at around $30-45/month for a 1-2 years plan. So at $35, its within that range. The main reason why I did buy it is because of 2 main reasons. 1) I’m on a diet/fitness regime now, and 2) the location is right opposite my office! Best deal ever 🙂

Will I buy more groupon deals? Perhaps.

Deals like, $6 for 1 Manhattan Fish ‘n Chips at The Manhattan FISH MARKET (Worth $13.90), $3.25 for Any 6-Inch Sub (Worth up to $6.50) at 7 Subway Outlets or $5 for 1 Main Ramen or Rice at RamenPlay (Worth $10.80) does seem cheap and worth it. But seeing how 10,000 to 30,000 coupons for each has been bought, I wonder how the shops can cope with it and also if QC will drop. For 30,000 coupons, and with a typical validity of 6 months, that means they would have to serve additional 5000 purchases at a heavily discounted price. Do note, groupon does take a cut of the coupon price, which means more retailers might suffer a loss or just barely breakeven.

Anybody has any group deal experience to share? And also which other sites have you used before?

4 Comments

  1. Thend /

    I bought the Subway coupon from Groupon before. Thought it was a pretty good deal, considering it’d replace lunch for the next few weeks.. or months ;p
    And it was also near my work place.. even though there was like only 6 locations to choose from. Think the quality was around the same.. or maybe the bread became smaller but i have no scientific proof. And it seemed like the way the stalls handled the coupons differed and most didn’t scan it in…. so what’s to stop people from printing out extra coupons and using them again?
    But think if you follow such deals… now and then there will be some really good deal you just have to get.. think some of the holiday ones are pretty good these days.

  2. YM Lim /

    Yo.. I tried the Manhatten Fish market deal too! It was worth it for $6. Still need to pay GST and service charge though (around $1) and I think i was smart enough to go to less crowded places – Bedok Point.

    Groupons that I bought I think is very value buy e.g. International Buffet at $35, spa treatments at $18 or so. But I wouldnt like to buy too many spa treatments in case I meet hard sellings there *crossing fingers*….

    But I agree that standard is very hard to maintain and also it might not be very profitable for the business itself. For many times, after I bought the coupons, I was not able to go at my preferred timings, felt kinda cheated.

    And as an existing customer, I wouldn’t want my spa or gym to be filled with Groupon customers, where I paid more than them and they fill up the entire place. I have an experience at my dance school where they sell groupons and the classes are always filled. And I have to tolerate a bigger class who pay way less than me! (Groupon : $38 for 6 lessons, I paid $140 for 6 lessons!)

  3. Wilson /

    haha trust ym lim the shopper! im a first time shopper at groupon too. referrals in return for shopping credits — great idea (thnx fergus). hmm hope vendors keep to the end of their bargain and not let their standards slip! groupon shd monitor and bar offending vendors from their site! overall, this gives more choice to consumers. thumbs up!

  4. Shannieee /

    The gist of the whole deal thing is to bring traffic for merchants and discounts to the consumers, so it becomes a win win situation. It won’t lead the business to bankruptcy la.

    When I working in a similar company, we usually target consumers with out of place locations. So, if they fall under this category, we will help to promote awareness to their place. And, not to mention more traffic flow into their shop(s). They are more than happy to welcome consumers anytime, since their locations are not that easily accessible.

    For the more popular & accessible merchants, they generally have specific timings to use the coupons, like what YM mentioned. So they normally give out less popular timings like valid on Monday-Thursday or not valid during lunch/dinner crowds (2-4pm) . This way it reduces empty tables and lazy staff during non peak period. (:

    Since the deals are either restrictive or based on reservations, if you are unable to take leave or totally forget about it, they will still earn since you pay them right from the start. I know some merchants will tell you that they are fully booked when you try to make reservations, while they continue to receive customers who are walk-ins (with no deals purchased yet). So, they get paid for something even before they actually deliver the goods/service & continue to earn more from their daily business. Nothing much to lose right? (;

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