Web coupons are hot in the Corridor

Bringing new customers in the door has been the upside to the hot Web-coupon trend for businesses.

ARA Gallery owner Tony Alt popped his Cedar Rapids company's first coupon on LivingSocial this past Wednesday. He offered coupons good for $100 worth of merchandise for $50.

By 3 p.m., Alt had received nine contacts from prospective customers. He said the promotion could be one of his most effective in 19 years in business.

Advertisers have a growing number of options when offering a Web coupon, and an increasing number are using multiple coupon vendors. Alt was planning to offer another coupon soon on LivingSocial and one on Here's the Deal, a Web coupon program promoted through SourceMedia Group's KCRG-TV, KCRG.com, The Gazette and thegazette.com.

Platinum Rose, a Marion art and tattoo studio, sold some 32 tattoos on Here's the Deal in one promotion, owner Josh Fields said.

“I've had a lot of new customers, too,” he said.

LivingSocial has been in the Corridor market for more than two years. It was joined in the area this year by rival Groupon, which quickly signed up a large base of local customers to its list that sends out daily emails and cellphone messages promoting coupon deals.

“It was like buying their email and cellphone database,” said Chris Querry, co-owner of the Wig & Pen East, an Iowa City pizza restaurant that recently offered a Groupon.

The Wig & Pen East sold 1,622 Groupons, setting a local market record, Querry said. The deal was $25 worth of pizza for $12.

Groupon kept 40 percent of the income of every coupon sold, and Wig & Pen East retained $7.20 each. Query limited the coupon's redemption period to four months.

“From a strategic marketing standpoint, it was a success,” Querry said.

Restaurants seem to be in the majority of businesses trying Web coupons.

Prairie Soup Catering Manger Dan Mettenburg said the downtown Cedar Rapids company's Groupon in late March offered $8 worth of food for $4. He was pleased when 256 were sold and could tell that it brought in first-time diners.

“One weird thing I noticed was that a lot of Groupon customers were riding their bikes,” he said. “They'd come in wearing that biker Spandex.”

Prairie Soup had earlier done a $50 Buy-It-for-Half coupon deal through Here's the Deal. He said it didn't sell as many, but he liked the advertising exposure it brought.

Cedar Rapids Rough-Riders President and CEO Jeff Jauck said the hockey club has tried four Groupon promotions, with varying results.

Many of the Web coupons record data on which customers are first-timers, what they purchase and whether they spend more than the coupon amount.