If you enter the Tongue in Chic office first thing in the morning, you’ll see most of us glued to our PCs. No, we’re not doing our work or replying emails, we’re simply checking out daily deals. What deals you say?
About a month ago, we noticed a growing trend in collective buying websites and being the curious cat, i decided to check it out. And now, I’m hooked!
Let’s just drop some names – Groupsmore, MyDeal, Dealmates, MilkADeal, Hahah, Cheapskate. What do they all have in common? Discounts between 50 – 90%!
Before we start swiping our cards, here’s the lowdown on how coupons work in the new century:
Group purchasing organizations such as the names listed above purchase various types of goods and services at a discounted rate. Their job is to convince merchants to lower their rates and come up with great deals for their buyers. After they’re done doing the dirty work, they do a detailed write up, make a video/take pictures to upload it to their website.
Everyday there is a “Deal of the Day” that is sent out to all their subscribers. You can then choose whether to purchase the deal, recommend the deal or purchase it as a gift to someone else. There are deals on almost everything – food, beauty promotions, activities, you name it, they’ve got it!
As long as you have a credit card or online banking, you can start shopping.
However, the deals are only activated when a minimum number of people agree to buy. This is indeed the case for “the more the merrier”.
Let’s highlight a few deals that might catch your interest…
RM20 instead of RM45 for 1 session of Belly Dancing class at The Dance Space, Hartamas (Groupsmore)
RM49.90 for 90 mins of Revitalizing Facial Treatment + 60 mins of Therapeutic Body Massage (MyDeal)
Once you’ve chosen your favourite deal, just make the payment and wait for an email confirmation with a certificate number. And voila, your vouchers are available for redemption within 24 to 48 hours after the discount ends.
A word of caution though, some merchants might try to egg you to buy a product or five but just say ‘NO’ if you don’t want to. Expect to be receiving future promotional emails from them.
Also, if you’re a compulsive shopper like I am, it helps to write down or take note of the deals you’ve bought because you wouldn’t want to be one of those forgetful customers who never redeem their coupons. *cough*
Other than that, it’s practically a win win situation for the both, we get great deals while they are guaranteed a certain number of sales.
So if you’re still cutting coupons from magazines, it’s time to ditch the habit and join the bandwagon.
Still clueless? Let the bargain guru guide you.
By far the biggest group purchasing company in Malaysia, which was recently bought over by Groupon. They have an extensive selection on deals and unlike other sites, they have up to 10 deals displayed everyday.
Although they are not as well known as Groupsmore, they come close to being second. They cover both KL and Singapore, which would be quite interesting to check out what our neighbors are offering.
Sister company of Catcha Media, Dealmates is slowly but surely rising. Only 3 months new, they are already offering deals where we could win free ipads and macbooks. How awesome is that?
If you’re living outside of KL, this is your site. They do cater to certain states in the country. So it doesnt matter if you’re in Penang or Kuching, there will be deals for you.
There are too many sites out there for us to cover so if you think I’ve missed out any, do drop a comment or share with us your good or bad experiences.
[Image credits: memeburn, dnetzone, mshcdn, icopartners]
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