One day you wake up to find an offer too good to be true. Your inbox entices. You buy; you subscribe. After all $15 for $30 worth of Mediterranean food at a place you frequent makes good sense; the math simply computes. That’s how the addiction begins. Before long you find the corollary services and pop your email into the location box and you’re off and running.
Then, the impasse. Your email is filled with offers. Deals, bargains, two-fers; you name it. They’re there. What happened? How did we get to this point, and why was no one offering us these “bargains” before? Marketing organization is the strategy that convinces businesses to take advantage of online energy. It’s simple for the companies, especially small companies, but no one should forget how well big players such as Gap (Groupon deal) and Amazon (Living Social deal) did with their offers! Small businesses, on the other hand, see the advantage of possibly getting 1,000 new customers. Will they have stickiness is the big question or does the purchaser only visit the place on his special deal visit?
Look at the possibilities that I awoke to this morning: Half-off a burger, $15 for $30 worth of food from a large selection of Asian and European restaurants, $25 for $50 at an American spot…I could continue, but it is rather alarming how these deals multiply. Subscribers are divided into only two groups: The Addicted and the Never Again. The fine print often gets the Never Again as they missed the expiration date or the deal was not what they expected.
The Addicted, a group I might claim chairmanship, means a daily scroll through the possibilities and some serious personal, private conversations about how many deals should one have floating in their cloud at any one time? I do have self-control, as in, I did not buy $20 worth of candy which looked like jelly beans for $10. Yet, a good chocolate offer…BTW, companies are sprouting up all over the country. New online contenders continually seem to offer a deal a day. Deal categories continue to expand from cooking classes to clothing to home decor and activity trips or vacations. You name it; there’s a deal site.
What’s one to do? Of course, cancellation would be an option, but then you’d miss the hot new restaurant that’s trying to get your attention. After all when you scan through sold out past deals, you see what you missed!
Just to show you the popularity of these programs, try to take advantage of the offer to get “free” money with a referral. Everyone you send it to seems to respond, “already subscribe.”
The obvious solution: Invest in the companies when they go public. They know how to make a deal.
Wal-Mart and you see an expansionary trend: Consumers buy what they can afford, and these companies want to be at the top of the list. 
half-priced wine nights (mostly Mondays or Tuesdays), and kids eat free nights are commonplace at a growing list of restaurant price points. Again, not every restaurant will follow the Monday-Tuesday light night concept, but those traditionally are good nights to secure restaurant deals.
With Spring just ready to pop onto our calendars, we stand ready with our straws to welcome the change in many of our beverages. We are at the beginning of iced tea and iced coffee season. Yes, I know some of us adhere to iced beverages regardless of the season, but for many Spring is the “official” opening day for iced beverages. You want the drink to stay at the right intensity and not quickly turn into a watery, negative experience; so use a good, sturdy cup and grab a straw. Here’s some exciting news that’s easy to enjoy.
