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In an interesting look at the daily deal phenomenon that has everyone chattering in the recent past, some researchers have taken a look at whether daily deals influence how people do two things related to giving (at least in theory): holiday shopping and charitable giving.
First, eMarketer reports on data from another daily deal player, Eversave. Of course, we offer the usual “remember the source!” warnings since someone like Eversave has a vested interest in getting the word out to fight against the Google of the deal space, Groupon.
This first chart relates to how people may or may not turn to deal sites for holiday shopping.
Honestly, I was a little surprised that not everyone would say they would. One thought on why this is not unanimous in its use could be that they would be perceived as cheap if the deal factor was discovered (incredibly shallow I know but what percentage of holiday gift giving do you think is done for effect rather than actual caring?). Another could be that whatever the deals are just don’t fit the shopper’s target.
The other area looked into is the influence of charitable giving as a way to get someone to bite on a deal. Here the numbers surprise just a bit because, honestly, I am not sure whether charitable giving is a true trigger to making someone buy anything. It’s a nice bonus but would someone make a purchase decision that they were considering as ‘marginal’ just based on the fact that pennies go to a charity? Maybe so but that metric as a real incentive to take a deal is one that needs a further examination.
So what about you? Using deal sites to do your holiday shopping? Do charitable contributions sway your deal purchases? Inquiring minds want to know here at Marketing Pilgrim so share your take in the comment section.
Happy Deal Finding!
