Social Couponing Sales: The Influence of "Likes"

Social media and social commerce continue to transform the way individuals interact with each other, but even more so how they interact with businesses and organizations. The power and influence of the social group has made social couponing sites such as Groupon or LivingSocial big players in the e-commerce marketplace. However, like many other forms of e-business, they have seen their share of fortune swing wildly at times. What makes this type of social shopping attractive and keeps customers participating in the daily deals? One possible explanation we explore in this research is whether the inclusion of social media "Likes" in advertisements for discount vouchers on social couponing sites is correlated with the level of sales. Specifically, we examine how the number of buyers and consequently the final level of sales are affected by the practice of displaying the "soft" variables of: the sold vouchers, the number of followers or number of likes, the amount of the price discount, and both the initial and final price.