By Joshua Errett

Who hasn’t received one of these electronic coupons in the past month? Or, conversely, which retail stores don’t send out coupons through emails? The answers, respectively, are nobody and everybody. For whatever reason, this shopping season has been particularly LARGE for e-marketing – with Roots, GAP, Club Monaco and most other chains flooding inboxes with flaccid e-coupons. The all-intrusive catch is the majority of these coupons come for the price of an online survey, one which serves as a mailing list sign-up. In most instances, the discount amounts to only 15 per cent on non-sale, non-online purchases. Is this the price of a clean, empty inbox?