The 7 Types of Groupon Buyers

Groupon, LivingSocial, The Capital Dish, What’s the Deal. The inbox of foodies and weekend warriors alike are being flooded by deals on a daily basis. The idea of getting ‘free money’ to spend on food and drink at local restaurants seems too good to be true. These websites have been wildly successful, with reports in the last 2 days that Google will buy Groupon for more than $5 billion and Amazon is considering buying Living Social.

With tens of thousands, maybe millions, of Americans now on-board with the group buying trend, certain patterns have emerged as to who is using these websites.  Thanks to my friend Brad for the inspiration for this post and thoughts on some of the types of Groupon buyers.

So Good now presents to you: “The 7 Types of Groupon Buyers”

1. The Viral Cheapskate

The Viral Cheapskate springs into action the minute he logs on his computer in the morning. He looks for a deal at a restaurant or bar he has avoided because he is too cheap to pay full price. Yet getting the 50%-75% discount offered by Groupon isn’t enough. Many sites give you a deal for free if you recruit a certain number of friends to purchase the deal through your referral link. The Viral Cheapskate will immediately employ guerilla tactics to get friends to buy the deal through his specific link – doing whatever it takes to make sure he pays nothing at all. Expect emails with the link, Gchat status updates with the link, and the obligatory Facebook post with, you guessed it, the link.

2. The Sampler

These buyers are obsessed with trying anything and everything they haven’t yet experienced in their city. They treat Groupon like a giant buffet offering hundreds of businesses for them to sample. Normally a small business would be happy to have Groupons sold to people that like trying new places. But “The Sampler” never thinks twice about going back to someplace a second time, they’re too focused on lining up plans to visit the next 10 places to offer a deal.

3. The Frugal Bachelor

This guy is single – and proud of it. He’s a man about town who is constantly taking women out for dinner and drinks. As much as he loves going on multiple dates a week, he knows it can get pricey. But thanks to the advent of Groupon, coupons are cool again. No more embarrassment of being on a date and pulling out a 20% off coupon made of, gasp, paper! This bachelor shows his date how tech-savvy and hip he is while subtly letting her know that he’s the kind of guy that is down to try new places all over the city. No cash needed, he just flashes that Groupon on his iPhone app and all is well with the bill.

4. The Hoarder

These folks look at Groupons as free money. “Wait, you mean I spend $10 and get $25? That’s like $15 free!” As a result, they buy every single deal that is offered. Hoarding these Groupons to use at the absolute best, most useful, cost-saving moment, they drastically alter their shopping and living behaviors for months at a time in order to live off the stockpiled deals they have accumulating around them.

5. The Neighborhood Regular

This guy isn’t going to waste his time trying new places or buying Groupons he may or may not use. He knows what he likes and sticks to the same routine and establishments each week. He doesn’t get caught up in the hype of Groupons for new or trendy places, but he watches the offers like a hawk. The moment a Groupon is offered to a place he visits regularly, boom! He’s on it like white on rice, buying the maximum allowable number of Groupons. Then he smugly but awkwardly spends the next 8 weeks using a Groupon for his $30 bar tab at his local watering hole.

6. The Expiration Date

This Groupon buyer is proactive about purchasing the deal of the day, but incredibly lazy about putting it to use. As a result, once a month they find themselves canceling plans with friends and scrambling to an establishment on the last day a deal is valid. After all, they don’t want their Groupon to go to waste. After fending off long lines and swarms of other “Expiration Date” buyers, they curse themselves and vow this is the last time they wait until the final day to use their deal – only to repeat the routine all over again when their next deal is set to expire.

7. The Forgetter

This buyer loves purchasing Groupons, and can’t resist the deals and bargains. But their excitement for buying a Groupon is not rivaled by their enthusiasm to actually use it. They find themselves a full step behind “The Expiration Date” buyers. “The Forgetter” stockpiles deals but is totally oblivious to when they expire, frequently not noticing until it’s a week too late. This is the guy who is walking through a neighborhood with you, passes a restaurant, and then all of sudden shouts, “Dammit! I had a Groupon there I forgot to use!”