Coupon sales

1. Standard - you need to leave a request for a product. After the accumulation of a certain number of applications, money is collected, after which the purchase and shipment of goods is carried out.

   The disadvantage of this system is that some buyer may not pay for the goods, and in this case the whole group of buyers suffers. Significant organizational work is also required. However, specialized forums and ordering systems work to minimize such risks.

2. Coupon - to receive a service at a preferential price, it is necessary that the purchase reaches a certain amount of “Discount coupons”, therefore similar systems offer coupons that allow you to receive the service at a significant discount (for example, a coupon for 50 rubles - the right to eat in a restaurant for 400 rubles). If the required number of coupons per share is sold, the stock is considered valid and the coupon can be used to pay for the purchase. If not, the money is returned to the buyer, as a rule, to his account in the "personal account".
3. Discount - stores, most often online stores, themselves give out discount coupons to further attract customers and create a turnover at the time of sales.

The following types of coupons are available:

1. A user buys a coupon, for example, for 150 rubles, and you can pay a coupon of 600 rubles. Such a coupon is also called a certificate.
2. The user buys a discount coupon, for example, for 100 rubles and, when paying the invoice and presenting the coupon, receives a discount, for example, 50%.
3. The user receives (for example, by e-mail) or finds a coupon for a certain discount on the website, which he can indicate when placing an order in the online store.

According to one version, one of the founders of Microsoft, Paul Allen , who launched the online sales site Mercata in 2000, is considered to be the founder of the trend of coupon sales. The site implemented electronic equipment, the final price of which was reduced in accordance with the increase in the number of visitors who declared themselves to be buying. However, already in 2001, the Mercata project was curtailed, as it could not compete with such giants as, for example, Amazon.com ^[3] .

According to another version, the pioneers in the field of joint purchases were residents of China , who organized groups to buy goods to get the maximum discount from the seller. The model of group purchases in China remains very popular both among the local population and in the business environment ^[4] .

The first major coupon sales service was the American Groupon project, launched in Chicago in 2008. Already in 2009, Groupon sold more than 4 million coupons, due to which the company received $ 150 million ^[5] . In 2010, she was bought a similar project in Russia - Darberry, transformed in January 2011 to Groupon Russia.

By entering the coupon website and registering, the user is entitled to purchase a coupon, or voucher , for the selected share. Payment for the service is made using a credit card , electronic money or other services (for example, using a payment terminal) ^[6] . As a result, a letter with a voucher is attached to the user's mailing address, which must be printed and presented at the place of its implementation. The consumer who has chosen the action can invite all his friends and acquaintances to participate in it, thereby speeding up the process of reaching the required number of participants. Communication between potential buyers is carried out through blogs and social networks , where the group necessary for organizing a collective purchase is often recruited.

When making a coupon purchase, it is necessary to take into account the terms of its implementation, the terms of the promotion and the maximum number of coupons that one buyer can purchase. In the event that before the indicated period the number of buyers does not reach the desired value, the collective purchase is considered not to have taken place, and the holder of the voucher receives the money back.

According to RBC , the dynamics of the volume of the coupon sales market in Russia is growing every month, amounting to 1,541.7 million rubles in January 2011, and 1,668.4 million rubles in February 2011. According to a survey in early 2011, 12.8% of respondents used the services of coupon sites, and 43% were aware of the existence of such services, but had not yet used their offers. The average cost of buying coupons according to the respondents who purchased the coupon via the Internet is 350 rubles, and the average frequency of purchases for more than half of such buyers is 1-3 times a month. At the same time, cosmetics and perfumes are most often bought from goods on discount sites, and coupons for visiting restaurants and cafes, as well as tickets to movie theaters and musicals are bought from services, and haircut coupons in the beauty salon are in third place for services. According to the results of the same survey, when buying a coupon, the respondents first of all pay attention to the size of the discount and only then to the need to purchase a product or service and the cost of the coupon ^[6] .

• Joint purchase