Spam purchasing

I’ve never been one to follow a crowd. Usually I avoid them. And yet somehow I got sucked into the whole group-buying phenomenon. My inbox is now cluttered with daily deals from LivingSocial, as well the emails about “this great deal I just got!” from random friends and acquaintances.

I’m quite a newbie to group buying, as I think many of us are. Sure, Groupon has been around since 2008, but the whole group buying phenomenon exploded in 2010.

When I first heard about group buying, I thought it was the last thing I need. I am not an impulse buyer, and don’t intend to become one. I also don’t tend to make my purchases based on what most people are buying. And one of my criticism about “deals” is that they tend to make you buy something you weren’t already going to buy. Thus, instead of saving 50%, you are actually spending 50% that you would otherwise have not. I figured I didn’t want to be tempted into making purchases I didn’t need.

But then a parent sent out an group buying offer for a discounted annual membership to the Museum of Civilization (including the fantastic Children’s Museum and the War Museum which I still haven’t visited). I signed up and yes, I am guilty of sending out those “deal” email to friends (in my defence, I knew some of them visit these museums regularly).

Well, a month of group buying later and we now have annual memberships to 5 museums/galleries in town. You could say this only proves my point that I have may have saved on discounted membership, but ended up buying a lot more than I would have otherwise. I would argue that you probably don’t have an energetic toddler and those memberships will quickly prove their worth, but this doesn’t mean I’ve been won over to the wonders of group buy.

It’s too much like an on-line Walmart to me. Sure the deals might be good, but there are a lot more things which influence how, and on what, I spend my money than simply the biggest bang for my buck. And seriously, don’t we all have enough spam already?