With economies all over the world crumbling, individual personal spending in G8 countries is getting far more conservative. There is no better example of this economic down turn than in Canada. The northern neighbour of the United States was considerably impacted by the sharp drop in the US stock market. The ones who are paying the price for this mess are individual Canadians.
The average Canadian hurt by the shrinking stock market has reacted with traditional stoicism. They are pragmatic and know that the best way to weather this economic storm is to buckle down, cut personal spending and try to save some money. And where better to save money than the Internet? Canada is one of the most wired countries in the world and Canadians are very comfortable on the Web. To this end, a growing number of Canadian coupon, freebie and deal websites have sprouted up. These sites cater to only the Canadian market with a wide variety of Canadian only coupons, promotional codes, pay for opinion polls, gift cards for email leads and straight out free stuff. Some Canadians have discovered that a person can make money using these sites.
Although people can’t make a living from these sites, Canadians can earn extra money and find great values online. These sites contain valuable coupons and promotional codes that can earn or save Canadians hundreds, if not, thousands of dollars. No doubt you have seen the “Coke versus Pepsi” ads. For entering your email address and opinion, you can actually receive a $100 gift card from some national brand chains like Home Depot and Bestbuy. After all, it’s only an email address what could you lose?
Nothing to loseFeelings the sting of tough economic times, many Canadians feel that they have nothing to lose using these coupon and freebie sites. They simply set up a “disposable” email address from Hotmail or Yahoo and start submitting polls. It’s free so why not? Usually the information that you share with these companies is resold to other merchants who will use it to direct market to you or resell to another merchant. It is important to realise this before you enter your personal information. There is a very real danger if you are too open with your personal information.
Beware of the Dangers of Freebie SitesAlthough uncommon in Canada, personal identity theft is on the rise and these sites are a perfect from for unscrupulous identity thieves. Be cautious if you plan to enter your personal information anywhere on the Internet – not only when signing up for coupon and freebie websites. Keep in mind that the number of honest merchants far out number the dishonest. There are so many deals and even free samples available on the Internet today that it is staggering.
Free StuffThere are many merchants that are employing this type of Internet marketing. And yes, they offer special samples to Canadians. These merchants either want to build their brand, brand awareness or solicited customer feedback. One easy way to do this is to offer the products as free give-aways or free samples over the Internet. All you need to do is find a few “freebie” websites and sift through the offerings and select the stuff that appeals to you.
Coupons are driving Internet salesMerchants know that inbound traffic to their websites are either educating themselves, looking for the best price or ready to buy. They also know that on the Web, price is the most important thing. With the click of a mouse a potential custom can be gone if they know where to find what you are selling cheaper. Nothing convinces a customer to click on the buy button better than a discount or deal. The better the deal, the more sales. Online merchants that don’t offer online deals are not going to out-sell the competition. Many shoppers expect a better price for shopping online.
Although the saving and earnings that these Deals, Coupons and Freebie sites provide will not play a huge role in the recovery of Canada’s economy, they can have an important impact by bringing a little comfort and a little extra breathing room to the household incomes of normal, everyday Canadians.
Read the rest of this entry »