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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 lose
Feelings 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 Sites
Although 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 Stuff
There 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 sales
Merchants 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.
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