Thursday, February 4th 2010

By unknown

NATALIE TIMPERIO

THE SILHOUETTE

The recent launch of WagJag.com has taken viral marketing and consumerism to a whole new level with this new-to-the-scene collective buying phenomenon.

WagJag, a Toronto-based company, is a unique service utilizing innovative social commerce. It brings amazing deals from various businesses to attract groups of people in order to combine purchasing power. In short, the larger the quantity, the better the pricing.

An incredible deal only works when enough people “indulge together in a collective spree,” according to WagJag’s own definition on its website. This is where social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter play their part in spreading the word.

WagJag.com allows merchants to market their products in a cost-efficient manner, while providing them with exposure through social media. Consumers achieve group consensus and collectively bargain on items of particular interest through social networking sites.

WagJag allows various merchants to market a variety of consumer goods and services: “It’s usually coffee stores, ice cream places, burger joints, we’ve had wall climbing businesses, [and] we’ve had home shows or wine and cheese shows giving deals. So, things that would help anyone,” Jessica Hanick of WagJag explained.

WagJag features one deal at a time for the particular cities in which the merchants are associated with. As of now, WagJags are available in Barrie, Edmonton, London, Ottawa, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Calgary, Halifax, Montreal, Toronto and Windsor. Although WagJags are currently not offered in Hamilton, Jessica assured “[they] will be coming soon, we are just trying to complete a bunch of deals [in Hamilton].” Expect to see offers being made in the Hamilton region very soon.

Currently, Toronto remains the city within the closet proximity to Hamilton offering WagJags. “More [deals] have popped up in Toronto than anywhere else,” Jessica emphasized. So at least that makes WagJags within probable access to us Hamilton-goers, not to mention students, as WagJag generally offers savings of fifty per cent or more. The bids are timed, usually allotting a couple of days for auction, but vary depending on what the product, service or event is.

There is a minimum number of people required to join a group bid in order to receive a voucher for each offer. “So that just depends on the deal. We leave it up to the merchant. If it does happen all of a sudden you’ll get your voucher and that’s it, that’s all you need,” explained Jessica. For those computer challenged students out there, WagJag remains an easy-to-use service and a promising way to spare those precious pennies you have so diligently been saving at the bottom of your school bag.

Why create a service that does what stores can already do? Jessica’s answer was savings. She expanded,  “People who want to go out and have a good time” would enjoy what WagJag has to offer.

Money doesn’t grow on trees and students are always looking for ways to have some inexpensive, PG rated fun. Although one of my WagJag finds, a half price deal on handmade chocolate from Chocolatease, may not be so PG, WagJag presents an interesting alternative to traditional buying methods. Time will tell if consumers find this service worth their time and money.

Tags: wagjag