I must say it was scrumptious and the fact that we were saving half our money through the superdeals voucher while putting on twice the weight was extremely gratifying.

At the restaurant, the proprietor asked for my girlfriend’s mobile number for his customer records. At first, she resisted but after the meal, she gladly surrendered. See, the way to a girl’s heart is also through her stomach.

My girlfriend has been quietly snapping up these coupons and hoarding them for special occasions. So far she’s only bought food deals (half off for wagyu burgers at Hacienda Café and special price eggs benedict at the Aramsa Spa Café).

She steers clear of massage and beauty services offers since they tend to come attached with a hard sell spiel after to purchase an enormous package.

She doesn’t quite have the courage yet to buy travel deals – there have been a couple of reports in the local media about bargains gone sour with some customers who’ve bought hotel deals and found they weren’t such deals after all. And all the other limitations – travel period, off peak travel hours lend a sour tinge to the offer.

But I think it’s only a matter of time. She’s as avid a traveler as foodie and like most thoroughbred Singaporeans, is a true value-seeker. And she is organized enough to organize her life around deals and coupons.

In other words, she’s made for a Groupon-ised kind of life.

Me, I haven’t been paying a lot of attention to the deals that have been coming to my in box (as a consumer) – in fact, I am already suffering from coupon fatigue – but one this morning caught my attention.

Streetdeal.sg was offering “46% off 3D2N Riverside Majestic Kuching 5 star Hotel + 01 Night FREE + Breakfast + Return Air Tickets + Return Airport Transfer + 2-in-1 Half Day Nature Tour at S$269Nett for 1 pax instead of S$500. (Minimum of 2 vouchers)”

That appeals to me. Kuching, nature, proboscis monkeys, Sarawak laksa (pictured), crocodiles and fireflies for a weekend for a price of a dinner in Singapore – not bad at all.

At conferences I go to, and in most business conversations I’ve had, most people dismiss this Groupon phenomenon, saying it’s suicidal for suppliers and they say it will go away when suppliers realize that.

Then I realize these are mostly men speaking and men don’t get social commerce. Let’s face it, women drive social commerce; I have read reports that say 70% of Groupon’s revenues come from women.

A friend of mine, William Tan, who runs Heart Bistro in Orchard Road recently did a deal with a local coupon site. He offered high tea in his establishment – 2 for 1 – and his place was packed (with women) over two days. High tea is his quietest time and he needed to raise awareness of his place. Hopefully now that the women have had a taste of his cupcakes and the best carrot cake in town, they will return.

I’ve heard lots of anecdotes about how this phenomenon is changing customer behaviour – how some people buy coupons but don’t use them (reminds me of the early days of low cost airlines when you just bought tickets and didn’t use them either); how some stand by and wait for the deals, buy them and consume them instantly, even travel; and how some, like my girlfriend, organize their lives around the coupons they buy.

“I don’t get it,” said a friend. Male of course. “You’ve got to be a certain kind of consumer to do this.”

Well, I reckon there are plenty of these consumers around and suppliers need to be smart enough to use this in the right way at the right time.

I like the idea that you don’t have to go searching for the deals, but that the deals find you. The next step is these deal sites have got to get smarter about targeting – once they do that, they could become a woman’s personal shopper and best friend.