COD: Bartab means virtual gifts that are anything but virtual (hic!)

The integration of digital into brick and mortar business is proceeding quickly, and one of the msot intriguing expressions of this trend is Bartab.com, an SF-based startup that lets you send and receive $1 drinks with your Facebook friends.

It's quite ingenious, and like the best ingenious things, dead simple.

1. Join
2. Choose a bar from the list of participating bars
3. Choose a drink from the bar's list of promoted drinks
4. Send the drink coupon to a friend (or yourself.)
5. To redeem, you show the barman or barmaid your phone and pay a buck

Wowza, hunh?



- What a great way for a bar to drum up business!
- What a great way for budget conscious young people to go out at a slightly lower cost.
- What a great way for a control freak to get their way on what bar s/he and the friends will patronize that night.
- What a great way for liquor brands to promote mixed drinks versus suds.
- Or suds companies to promote their brands of suds.
- Or or or.

There are a variety of reasons why this sort of model might work better for bars than group couponing. Because I would imagine that trial rates would be enormous, given that you pay on premise versus online for a coupon you might or might not get around to using.



I would also be interested in knowing the impact this has on tipping. In my (extensive though now dated as I have not had an alcohol drink in 10.5 years) experience, a buck a drink is a "normal" tip in a bar. My suspicion is that a customer would be AT LEAST that generous on a discounted drink.

I would also think that you are covering your costs on a lot of drinks (using well brands,) so there wouldn't be the danger of creating unprofitable sales. So long as a reasonable number of people follow up the discounted drink with a full priced one, there's great money to be made here. And the opportunity to drive trial and loyalty makes this a really intriguing bar marketing tactic.