Seeking a bargain? It's game on with groupon | Bangkok Post: tech

SMART CHOICE

Whether you are buying a smoothie or medical services, life can be more affordable if you have a plan. And act fast! You may get two smoothies at half price or get a room at a luxury resort at just less than 1,000 baht a night.

If you are eating out at a certain restaurant this weekend, you'd better check out the "groupon" websites to see if they have any discount coupons for the meal. If you are lucky to find one, just grab it before it's sold out or the deal expires.

The consumers get all these deals because there are middle people following the groupon business model who exercise bargaining power for you. Instead of paying the full price or waiting until you form your own collective-buying team with dozens of like-minded people to get the wholesale price, these websites will do the job for you.

It's a win-win situation. The customers get cheaper products, the business operators get to promote their (usually new) businesses, and the groupon websites get paid for their operation costs.

These groupon _ the word is derived from "group coupon" _ or deal-of-the-day websites feature discount coupons to be used at certain businesses under certain conditions. Conditions include the expiry date of the offer and percentage discount (usually 50% up to 90%). Most deals are offered on the website for about a week, but some hot deals can also be sold out before the offer period ends.

The process is not complicated. Check the websites and wait for the deals you're looking for to pop up. Click buy, pay for the deal and the coupon is yours. Payment is generally made in one of three ways; credit card; a cash payment service counter at convenience stores or department stores; or conventional money transfer through a bank. The coupon can usually be used within the next few hours or the next day, depending on the conditions.

There are quite a few local groupon websites including Ensogo (www.ensogo.com/thailand/), Dealdidi (www.dealdidi.com), Lodhainoi (www.lodhainoi.com), Big Deal Thailand, DealThailand (www.dealthailand.com), Thai Master Coupon and Sanook Coupon (www.sanookcoupon.com). Some of them have their own websites but most of them operate through a fanpage on Facebook. Become a fan and you can keep up to date with the latest deals _ and communicate with company staff if there's any problem in the buying process or in using the coupons.

Contacts can also be made through the telephone numbers given on the webpage. Most of these companies are still small enough for the customers to have their problems fixed within a few days.

Being the most popular among the local groupon business, Ensogo apparently offers the largest variety of products, from discounted 49-baht yoghurt ice cream to a 450-baht spa package and a 1,290-baht medical check-up.

The coupons also cover a car wrapping service, hotel packages and food discounts. Its Facebook fanpage has almost 190,000 "likes" from regular visitors.

DealDiDi has more than 35,000 fans and offers not only beauty products for you top to toe but also deals from luxury resorts in Hua Hin and an interesting deal to be used at an all-you-can-drink beer house.

Lodhainoi has attracted about 10,000 fans on its Facebook fanpage. Interestingly, it features the deals in Thai, English and Japanese.

Among the products offered in all websites, the most popular deals, of course, are food _ be it main dishes, snacks or desserts. Customers love it even more if it is an all-you-can-eat meal.

Larger websites usually offer deals from well-known businesses, but that also means a larger number of customers are waiting to grab the same deals you are looking for. You are likely to easily get a deal offered by a smaller websites with fewer customers. Of course, the deals are usually from new operators seeking to promote their businesses.

If you want to be at the right time to grab a deal from a website, study its update pattern. The number of deals and time they are introduced on to the website vary from one to the other, depending on their strategy.

For example, Lodhainoi first updates its daily game about 9am, when it gives away its free coupon-of-the-day. This is followed by the announcement of the lucky winner within an hour or two. The coupon-of-the-day arrives about 10am, because that's rush hour in the cyberworld.

Most young office workers start their working day by checking their email at 9am, before taking a few more minutes of personal time checking out various websites.

These groupon websites target young female office workers who still have time to seek best deals while those older than 35 _ most of whom are in middle management and possess more purchasing power _ need more time to concentrate on their work. More deals are also introduced to attract male customers, including car services.

The only worry in using these services is if the coupon is invalid. But the businesses are relatively new to Thailand and it's easy enough for customers to contact the groupon websites via Facebook page or telephone for immediate feedback.

Don't try to cheat or you may be embarrassed. A reprint of a coupon won't work because even if some coupons are issued without serial numbers, the businesses involved will be manually notified of the sale and the expiry date is still applied.