Groupon Builds a Holiday to Promote Deals as Gifts
Festivus may be for the rest of us, but social-coupon platform Groupon thinks we could use a holiday aimed specifically at deep-discount group buying. That’s why the Chicago-based company has launched “Grouponicus”, a holiday dedicated to “filling your loved ones’ gift buckets with experiences, not gift cards.”
The holiday centers on a landing page at the Groupon’s main Web site where registered users in 20 of the company’s North American markets can turn for discounts from local merchants that are usually 50% off or higher. More importantly, these discounts will remain on the site and available for more than 24 hours, unlike the “Daily Deals” that have made Groupon and other social coupon sites a major force on ecommerce.
The special Grouponicus offers are time limited, but that expiration is usually three to five days long rather than the 12 to 24 hours most of the company’s Daily Deals remain live. And while most of the standard offers on Groupon come with a “tip” point—that is, require a minimum subscription level from users to go active—the Grouponicus deals have no real tipping point, although the site still lists the number of subscribers who’ve bought.
The site also lets visitors purchase Groupon deals to give as gifts. When the purchase goes through, Groupon sends an email to the gift recipient with instructions on how to claim and print out their coupon for redemption.
The Grouponicus site is driving traffic with Groupon’s first MP3 download discount offer. For the next day and a half, registered users can get Rihanna’s new studio album “Loud” for $5, about half the regular retail price.
The holiday site is itself created to be engaging. In additional to posting deals for merchants, Groupon actually writes copy for those deals, often using Chicago talent drawn from local resources as the Second City comedy troupe. So the site has become known for its trademark wry take on sales creative, and that tongue-in-cheek approach extends to the Grouponicus backstory. The holiday comes with its own mascot, Groupo the Bargain Bird, who has the head and body of a bird but a snake for a tail. (According to the site’s FAQ, that’s so Groupo can unlock your attic window and leave Groupon deals in your oven.)
A list of traditional Grouponicus tenets on the site includes activities as throwing regrets into a hole in the backyard and not owning a dog during the season.
The Grouponicus FAQ concludes with this ironic exchange:
Q: I want to welcome Groupo™ into my home, but my children are afraid of him.
A: Yes. Yes, they are.
Groupon made news last Friday when Oprah Winfrey mentioned it on her traditional “Favorite Things” program, announcing a partnership that let Groupon users spend $15 to make a $25 contribution to Kiva, a non-profit organization promoting micro-credits for third-world home businesses.
That “Oprah Effect” publicity combined with a new nationwide deal listing $50 in merchandise from the Nordstrom Rack outlet chain for $25 to produce traffic volumes heavy enough to slow down access to many of Groupon’s local sites. In Chicago, home town to both Groupon and Oprah, home town, staffers reportedly told a local TV station via email that even they couldn’t access the main Groupon site for a period.
The Web congestion was most likely amplified by the fact that Friday was the last day to redeem an offer from The Gap, Groupon’s first for a national chain, sold last August 19. That offer, also giving $50 in merchandise for $25, had 445,000 takers in less than 24 hours—and also caused a slowdown on the Groupon site.
Privately-held Groupon has recently become the subject of
intense acquisition rumors, with the list of possible suitors including Google, Amazon, eBay and Yahoo.
