A new student enterprise called CouponCat will provide weekly discounts for Evanston businesses starting Wednesday.
CouponCat will officially launch in a joint collaboration with Beck’s Book Store. For one week, students will be able to purchase $20 worth of Beck’s merchandise for $10, said Weinberg and Communication sophomore Andrew Lim, co-founder of CouponCat. The deal will only become available once the target number of 20 people purchase a coupon on the website.
Lim said the idea for his enterprise came from students’ limited awareness of Evanston businesses.
“Students go really close to Evanston, but in the end people only go to places they know, where they’re introduced by PA’s — basically where their friends go,” Lim said. “There are also a lot of products that just don’t have the opportunity to appeal to students.”
CouponCat is part of Northwestern Student Holdings, an organization founded in 2008 to sponsor student-run enterprises. The group currently supports businesses like AirHop, Wildcat Express Delivery and NU Tutors.
Lim emphasized the potential role of CouponCat in promoting more interaction between Northwestern students and Evanston businesses.
“We really want to give students a bigger variety of things to enjoy in Evanston and give businesses a chance to reach out to the student body,” he said.
CouponCat creators hope to improve upon the limitations of Groupon, Lim said. Groupon, founded by NU alumnus Andrew Mason (Bienen ‘ 03), provides daily discounts on local services such as restaurants, spas and skydiving lessons.
Weinberg sophomore Ben Silbert said although he uses Groupon, the site’s offerings are often irrelevant to NU students.
“There’s spa stuff, stuff about carpet cleaning, buying jewelry…it doesn’t appeal to students quite as much,” he said.
CouponCat plans to reach out to more businesses if the deal with Beck’s goes successfully, Lim said. Currently, the business contacted about 10 stores, including Kansaku, Così and Clarke’s Diner, he said.
Beck’s general manager Natalie Kasputis hopes the deal will attract more student customers to the store.
“In general, we’re known on campus during back to school (time),” Kasputis said. “It will be a good way to bring students in at a different time.”
Silbert said Evanston businesses tend to be expensive. In order to attract thrifty students, CouponCat will have to publicize its deals, he said.
“Unfortunately, some of it can get pricey for a student budget,” Silbert said. “If publicized well, it can be pretty successfully used.”
Lim emphasized the group’s focus on experimentation, not corporate profit.
“A lot of the times, people say businesses are here to make money, but we’re into it because we like the concept of problem-solving,” Lim said. “We’re really excited to see what we can make out of the business.”
Students can access coupons on www.nucouponcat.com starting Nov. 23.
