Leave it to another 20-something to figure out human needs. The endgame is that humans are either hungry, bored, or hungry and bored. Teenagers and the 20-something crowd can attest to that.

But it’s the truth and universal. When I play poker, there are poker players actually watching videos on their smartphone. They listen to music with ear buds. They eat at the table.

Drivers eat, listen, and do stuff in addition to driving. Even watching TV has become a challenge. We can’t watch just one channel, we need multi-view! Why watch one game when you can watch 5? And with every commercial for beer, chips and pizza, why not eat too?

Groupon is driving the world nuts. Salons and spas are now part of the “bored” part of their strategy and they are waiting up to 6 weeks to give away their services for 25 cents on the dollar. In many instances, they are giving repeat clients 75% off. But it’s the new clients everyone is looking for.

How about this? Offer 75% discounts on services and products to new clients. Hey, offer 50% discounts and keep the vig for yourself. The deal remains the same, one time deal, new clients only and you can even limit the days the deal is good for.

But it’s not as sexy and not as much fun to click on the “sold” tab to see how many Groupons you sold. You get the money instantly and some customers don’t show up.

So who is the winner in this game de jour? Groupon of course. Their valuation is now up to $25 Billion, and that’s dollars not pesos. And this with a company that started in 2008.

How many Groupons have you received from Starbucks, McDonald’s, Domino’s, Great Clips and MGM Immerse Spa? Try booking a $120 50-minute massage at Immerse on the weekend less than a week in advance. Yet there are plenty of massages available elsewhere for $29 and $49 with no appointment necessary going unfulfilled. And with Groupon, those are half price.

Groupon is yet another social phenomenon. Will it last? Perhaps. My guess is that people will get tired of receiving hundreds of daily coupons and the next phase of social media will kick this up a notch. Already Groupon is working on that phase as they learn what consumers are buying so they can pinpoint more stuff at them.

I would love to hear from those that have tried Groupon or other coupon ventures. What I am most interested in is the repeat business generated, percentage of customers who redeem their Groupons and if it’s worth doing again.

Oh, one more thing. Perhaps clients are bored in salons getting their haircut and colored hanging out for up to two hours. And for sure they are hungry. Hmmm. . . .

Happy Monday!

When I was 9 years old, I visited my grandfather in California. He was a stingy type of guy, you would not want to know what he did with a chicken (hint: everything was fried in chicken fat, not olive oil). And one thing about him for certain was that he wasn’t going to spend an extra penny at the supermarkets.

One of his favorite pastime activities was collecting supermarket flyers and cutting out coupons. Being stuck with him, I had no choice but to get in the car and visit 4-5 supermarkets. At each market, he would only buy coupon items. In some instances, he would save 50 cents. “Mr. Larry, 50 cents is 50 cents,” he would say and then spit out to those that didn’t want to save 50 cents.

Coupon clipping has always been an American pastime, more so in recessions. Today it’s not surprising to see women carrying coupon caddies with over 1000 coupons. And believe me, I make sure to avoid these people at all costs at the check-out line. Once I made the fatal error and this woman literally had more than 100 coupons and it was double coupon day to boot. I think the supermarket gave her $4.36 back after her purchase.

These days, especially for the 20-30’s generation, carrying around coupon caddies isn’t cool. So leave it to a Y generation guy to come up with something to make coupons cool: Groupon. Now in major markets, businesses can sign up with Groupon to offer a product or service for a day.

For instance, one salon might offer a Groupon for a mani/pedi valued at $60 for $30. You have one day to buy the offer (you can redeem later). For this service, Groupon collects 50% of the value, or $15 in this instance. Already, Groupon has spawned knock-offs so now consumers receive multiple “Groupons” a day.

If it wasn’t difficult enough being in business, Groupon is the last thing we need. If we offer mani/pedi’s for $30, what’s it to say for consumers to think $30 is the fair market price? With consumers so accustomed to getting what they want, they will wait for the Groupon to come back again. But then again, if you have idle capacity and the manicurist isn’t getting paid to do nothing, then perhaps her making $7.50 (50% commission) is worthwhile. And people complain about making $8 an hour at McDonald’s. But wait, didn’t you get a Groupon for a Big Mac?

Happy Tuesday!