Lorna Lewis, Systems Analyst by day but expert deal finder by calling, is almost addicted to it.<\/p>\n

She used it for the first time in August, but she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s already bought at
\nleast ten of them \u00e2\u20ac\u201c one for a Pilates class, a wine tasting, she even
\nused one to tube down the Delaware River – and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s loved them so much
\nthat she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gotten all her friends hooked on them too.<\/p>\n

$\"New$

New York Vintners, photo by Vanessa Quirk<\/p><\/div>\n

Thanks to people like Lorna, Groupon<\/a>, a web site that offers daily deals or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153groupons\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to local restaurants, spas, stores, and more, has grown exponentially since its launch a mere year ago.<\/p>\n

Read our review of 5 sites for can’t miss local discounts<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The premise behind Groupon, and the secret to its success, is remarkably simple. Every day, they provide a deal that, in their words, is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153something you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve always wanted to try at a price that makes it impossible to pass up.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

However, unlike other online discounts, a Groupon only becomes available if a certain amount of customers commits to buying it. Once that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153tipping point\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is reached, and the business offering this steal of a deal has effectively neutralized the risk involved, the deal is on \u00e2\u20ac\u201cuntil supplies last or midnight strikes.<\/p>\n

Due to word of mouth, social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, and its savvy business model, Groupon has expanded to almost 30 cities (far surpassing any other collective buying sites), and its email list of subscribers has increased at a rate of about 40-50% a month.<\/p>\n

Those kind of numbers aren’t just of interest to deal seekers and small business owners, but investors as well. Last week, Groupon announced<\/a> a $30 million round of funding from Accel Partners, who’ve also invested in sites like Etsy, Facebook and walmart.com. Translation: we’re not the only ones who think Groupon’s on to something big<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even before their holiday windfall, the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153blogosphere\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153twitter-verse\u00e2\u20ac\u009d have been all aflutter about Groupon in the last few months. I decided that it was time to see what all this fuss was about and find out if, as Groupon says, these deals really do feel \u00e2\u20ac\u0153too good to be true.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Read our review of 5 sites for can’t miss local discounts<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

I have my cupcake and eat it too<\/h3>\n
I asked Andrew Mason, CEO and founder of Groupon, to share what he considered the best deal they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever offered.<\/p>\n
While he was adamant that all of their deals are great, two particularly notable Groupons stood out: 64% off a year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s membership to the Art Institute of Chicago, and $20 for a $45 wine tasting at New York Vintners in Tribeca.<\/p>\n
New Yorker that I am, I decided to check out New York Vintners and see if this $20 wine tasting would really be as good a deal as Mr. Mason purported. As I awaited the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Cupcakes and Dessert Wines\u00e2\u20ac\u009dclass I had signed up for to begin, I took the opportunity to chat with my fellow Groupon users.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re definitely getting a deal.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Lorna and her colleague Wendy told me. Avid Groupon fans, they only had good things to say about the service. Groupon, coupled with the impact of the Recession, has encouraged them to change their old habits, try out stores they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d never been to or even heard of, and, of course, save money.<\/p>\n
Wendy used to pass New York Vintners every day on her way to school, but had never been inside before.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There are so many wine stores,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she told me, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153if it weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t for Groupon, I never would have come in.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Defying my expectations of what I assumed would be a sip or two of a few clearance rack wines, we were soon given a copious glass each of Prosecco, Rousanne, Shiraz, Zinfandel, and Sherry – and an even greater amount of information about the wines themselves.<\/p>\n
$\"Cupcakes$
Cupcakes from Butter Lane<\/p><\/div>\n
Add into the mix delicious bite sized morsels of chocolate, raspberry, and banana cupcakes, courtesy of New York bakers Butter Lane<\/a>, a company that uses local organic dairy and emphasizes flavor over sugar, and it very quickly became apparent that this wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just a good deal, but indeed a steal.<\/p>\n
Read our review of 5 sites for can’t miss local discounts<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s had the single greatest impact on our business\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Shane Benson, co-owner of New York Vintners, about Groupon. Since advertising on Groupon, the store has seen an increase of about 60 people a day come through their doors, and the increase in business has allowed them to double their store hours.<\/p>\n
Mason remarked\u00c2\u00a0 that an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153appearance on Groupon validates these businesses as a cool part of their community\u00e2\u20ac\u009d – Benson couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t agree more. He credits the impartiality and brand name appeal of Groupon with delivering a consumer base genuinely interested in what they do and the visibility they needed to make their business competitive.<\/p>\n
Getting the Most out of Groupon<\/h3>\n
What you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know about Groupon until you try it is the genuine sense of community among Groupon users. For the moment, at least, being a Groupon user is kind of like being a member of a secret club.<\/p>\n
You can of course go to Groupon events with already established friends, and Groupon encourages this with $10 coupons for referrals and Groupon gift certificates (around just in time for the Holiday Season). But, as Lorna told me, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re also \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a great way to meet new people.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Whether on the message boards, in which users share their knowledge about the value of the deal itself (and staffers answer your questions about the fine print of a deal), on Twitter, where followers can enter spur of the moment contests for Groupon credit, or at the events themselves, Groupon users are linked together by one common thing: a love of the deal.<\/p>\n
And now that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m part of the club, I finally get what all the fuss is about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lorna Lewis, Systems Analyst by day but expert deal finder by calling, is almost addicted to it. She used it for the first time in August, but she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s already bought at least ten of them \u00e2\u20ac\u201c one for a Pilates class, a wine tasting, she even used one to tube down the Delaware River – […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[1845,1847,811,1687,1846,45,287],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/198.46.88.49\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7754"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/198.46.88.49\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/198.46.88.49\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/198.46.88.49\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/198.46.88.49\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/198.46.88.49\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7754\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/198.46.88.49\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/198.46.88.49\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/198.46.88.49\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}