A couple of weeks ago a friend introduced me to Groupon. I’d never heard of them before, but there was an offer through them for a meal for 2 for £30 instead of £75…6 of us are out tonight for a fairly swanky meal at a modest price.

Anyway, since then I have had an e-mail almost every day with other deals, some of which seemed less attractive than others – Bodyshop – buy £30 of stuff for £12, another offer was for colonic irrigation (£28, down from £75)…today is Greyhound racing (£8.50, down from £25). I reckon I’m a bit heavy for that, they don’t look very robust, those greyhounds.

I had been ignoring these e-mails, not really grasping the concept, but a couple of days ago, it might have been on the Gadget Show they had an article of this scheme and some others.

They are an example of internet bulk purchase – Groupon will know roughly the response rate of it’s members so can go to Bodyshop and get a deal. £30 worth of stuff for £12 is good and Bodyshop will see benefits too.

The deals are local – you set your nearest town and they are all relevent.

And National, so I see on the website there is a holiday that is half price. They also seem to have a constant supply of hotels with offers.

You can see previous deals here – GROUPON