So after my somewhat gushing Groupon earnings call summary, here's the other side of the coin. One of the things that CEO Eric Lefkofsky said during the call, and it has become a major talking point since, is that Groupon wants to become the first place shoppers turn to when they "want to buy anything, anywhere, any time."

They have a long way to go. 

The first place I turn is Amazon. The second place is eBay. The third is a speciality store such as Apple, B&H, Nike, Tennis Express and the like. Groupon not so much. The fulfillment experience is lacking.

But this is perhaps more interesting. The place that I check last is Google. And what I do is search on the product name and the word coupon. My daughter told me to do so about three years ago when she was twelve. Seems that all the kids are doing it. An ingrained habit.

And more often than not I end up on RetailMeNot. Nearly every time I buy something on the Internet. Because of this behavior RetailMeNot is hot. They went public about a month ago (SALE) and the stock is up about 20% since then.

Where you end might be more important than where you start. And both of those behaviors seem a little cemented to me.

Disclosure: nCrowd, Inc. has an affiliate relationship with RetailMeNot, Inc.