Get A Deal In A New York Minute

Most New Yorkers love a deal. Lots of us are big on impulse buying as well. Combine the two and you've got " Groupon New York". The idea is this. You go onto their website and sign up to get their e-mails. Every day at 12:01am you'll get an alert telling you their deal of the day.
Groupon is pretty good at picking, as they say, "the most interesting stuff to do in New York."
They've worked it out ahead of time with different businesses, to offer you good, solid deals on whatever experience or product they're selling. Think half price deals on the theatre, at restaurants, for concerts, movies, lessons, classes, spa treatments, etc.

So, you get the alert about the deal of the day at 12:01a. You have 24 hours, until midnight the next day, to decide if you want it. If you click BUY, you're directed to give your credit card information.

THEN...If enough OTHER people have signed onto the deal, a predetermined minimum, then the deal will go through. Only then is your credit card charged.

The next day you'll get a confirmation e-mail and instructions about how to redeem your purchase.

It might be a coupon to print out, or a code or information about the will call window for tickets, etc.

Most people swear by it. The deals, and how it works.

We spoke to a couple businesses that offered deals through Groupon and they were thrilled.
Butter Lane Cupcakes down in the East Village is pretty happy.

They offered a half dozen cupcakes for half price. Their six-pack usually costs $16. The Groupon deal priced them at $8.

One of the owners of Butter Lane, Maria Baugh, worried they wouldn't reach their minimum of 50 orders. She needn't have. They got 1,790 orders.

"i'm astonished at the response", said Baugh. "obviously it speaks to the wide reach of Groupon. It's amazing for small businesses. First of all, in this time, and for small businesses any time, you don't have, I mean, we don't have a big promotion budget. We don't have a promotion budget. We have like, a dollar, and so we try to get as much cost-free PR and marketing as we can.

" Another great thing is we didn't have to lay any money out. Now, not only do we have a nice chunk of money that has come in from these $1790 people, but these people come back and buy more. Groupons reach is far broader than ours."

Another satisfied customer, New York Vintners. Their wine store is way downtown, on Warren St. Near City Hall. They describe it as a sleepy block. It's a challenge for a business. New York Vintners decided to offer a 2-hour wine class for $20...worth $45. They figured people, even if they don't have a lot of money, want a social experience and want it to be fun. " That's the way we look at wine."

The offer went out and the calls started coming in fast and furious. They sold 2500 classes in four hours.

" It was unbelievable," said Shane Benson. All I can say to other businesses thinking of using Groupon, is be ready!"

www.groupon.com/new-york/subscribe?
www.newyorkvintners.com
www.butterlane.com