have heard similar feedback from brick + mortar businesses
go-kart track: folks who came in through groupon never converted to repeat customers at full price
boutique fitness franchise: classpass users have low or negative margin, and don't convert to full price. they may be useful to fill out a part-empty class because that incurs no extra cost, but if you're spending new money to host them it's not economical
opposite case of this is pharma, where the subsidies go up the stack instead of down. arguably goodrx is the 'true' price, and the retail price you pay as a walk-in is drastically inflated
there are also communities of people who rotate credit cards to chase the best reward / rebates deals; imo they are behaving rationally in the face of an industry that offers bundles which decline in value over time
go-kart track: folks who came in through groupon never converted to repeat customers at full price
boutique fitness franchise: classpass users have low or negative margin, and don't convert to full price. they may be useful to fill out a part-empty class because that incurs no extra cost, but if you're spending new money to host them it's not economical
opposite case of this is pharma, where the subsidies go up the stack instead of down. arguably goodrx is the 'true' price, and the retail price you pay as a walk-in is drastically inflated
there are also communities of people who rotate credit cards to chase the best reward / rebates deals; imo they are behaving rationally in the face of an industry that offers bundles which decline in value over time