tipping the deal vs team purchasing

i'd like to step back a few years and look at where Groupon came from. back in the haze of what is now a billion dollar enterprise, there was a little company called ThePoint. now, this little site was created with activism in mind. the idea was to bring a pile of folks together, and if there were enough of them, then they'd stage some kind of action. right now there's a push to make Starbucks offer free WiFi. once 100,000 sign on then they will all commit to not buying drinks at the shops.

now this is nice and all. its basically a big disconnected version of signing a petition. from this idea of getting a bunch of folks to commit to something we get the idea of Groupon. a certain number of folks agree to buy something, the deal 'tips' [it's suddenly worth it for TheGap to offer a 50% off coupon] and everyone's credit cards get charged.

so, excellent. 11million folks get a Gap coupon. they go buy stuff.

now lets look at China.

the interesting thing about the US is that we have fixed prices. retailers write a price on a little tag and we all abide by it. this is why coupons work. another little tag is given to us that overrides that price tag. but in most other companies there's more of a 'suggested' price going on. walk through a market in Bangkok. if you see something you like and get a price on it not only is it customary to argue that price, if you just go with it the seller will be offended!

China is the same way. the big retailers have only recently arrived in force with their big box stores and mandated prices. and this doesn't quite sit right with the average Chinese. so what do they do? well, they arrive in force and demand a group price!

"Of particular interest is the tuangou (‘team purchase’) phenomenon, which involves strangers organizing themselves around a specific product or service. Think electronics, home furnishings, cars and so on. These likeminded then meet up in real-world shops and showrooms on a coordinated date and time, literally mobbing the seller, negotiating a group discount on the spot."

interestingly, a site like Groupon, as it moves toward setting up a bit more social media aspects and creates two sided rating scales for buyers and sellers, is all set to make this happen in the US. if a crowd of moms walked into a Target and demanding that they sell 5 packs of diapers for the price of 3 they probably wouldnt get very far. but if Groupon brought back ThePoint and put the control of pricing on the shoppers side . . . well, that would be something.

as online coupon sites have started to move from small and local to big box and national manufacturers they're going to have to come up with a next step. they have the clout. it's just a matter of getting folks to believe that their dollars are all the power they need.

incidentally, there is a site doing this to some extent in the UK, and i know of at least a few moms who've chosen to circumvent retailers all together setting up group buys direct from manufacturers based somewhat on how Co-ops work.

flash mob + credit card?

The new 'it' man

who's the hottest guy in the room?

well, if hollywood and the world of advertising are any indicators, its the IT guy.

ok. maybe not exactly 'IT' guy, but the programmers, the nerds, the geeks.

where is this coming from? well. . . there's what YouTube has to say about being a dickhead [faking the nerd is cool!], and then on the other side we get Honda Jazz's Australian campaign with their Kerouac quoting hipsters.

ok. so those are the nerds... where are the computer geeks? well, who is Justin Timberlake playing in an upcoming film? who are the guys in the next Gap ad? [here's a hint: they both start with F. i am assuming that 'G' is next on the list.]

no. this isn't rocket science im pulling together here. but there is something a bit interesting going on behind the scenes. even as we are raising up our nerds to billboard worthy heights, India is producing more honors students than the United States even HAS students. we're cranking out SAT taking clones while those who are changing out world are dropping out of school, skipping college and winding up millionaires.

what's wrong with this picture?

well, on one hand, not a whole heck of a lot. so long as kids have access to a computer, to the web, to an iPad [have you seen how kids are playing with these things?] they seem to be learning on their own. yes, we're wasting a lot of their time putting them in what amounts to a holding cell with a warden [school], but what are parents to do? work from home?

on the other hand, what are these guys as role models? oh! and where the ladies at!?!? seriously?! what is it that has somehow catapulted [once again] the guys to the top and left the ladies to sit by and idolize?

. . . i will be waiting for the obviously approaching ladies takeover, while also gleefully anticipating the throw down of Farmboy vs Techhead.

[wow. that was a lot of links. im going to have to find a better way to deal with this]