Check This Out: How half-off coupons became ubiquitous

Published 12:01 am Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Podcast: National Public Radio’s “Planet Money”

Episode 265: “Groupon’s Secret: Everybody Has a Price”

Recommended by: Kurt Batdorf, Snohomish County Business Journal editor

Can businesses make money by losing money? It’s a question as old as shopping itself.

In episode 265, NPR’s Planet Money crew and new contributor Robert Smith (a former news director of KUOW-FM in Seattle) look at how one struggling hamburger joint in Brooklyn made money with a Groupon half-off deal.

Along the way, they explain the concept of price discrimination (“Hey, how did he pay less for that than me?”) and trace it to Middle Eastern bazaars with a helpful explanation from Monty Python’s “Life of Brian.” Today’s coupons and customer loyalty cards are just an extension of haggling in days gone by.

Is the burgeoning email “daily deal” coupon industry the wave of the future or the equivalent of marketing crack for deal hoppers? Set aside 25 minutes and find out.