I love groupon
- Thread starter ebtek
- Start date
I love Groupon too, but the thing that drew me to the site was the "deal a day" aspect. Groupon's city pages are now full of shitty deals (look at the right sidebar) that I don't really care about. It's getting too "spammy" IMO. I doubt the advertisers are getting the best return for the deals on the right side of the page.
I know several businesses that had posted the "deal a day" coupons.
Groupon sells the idea that you offer 50% off your product/service and hopefully you will get repeat business in the future from those same customers.
all a bunch of crap, groupon is only good for cheap bargain hunters like myself.
the businesses offering the coupons are losing money big time. groupon takes a big chunk of those sales too, leaving the business with pennys.
lots of business that have tried it, didnt like it and doesnt recommend it.
Groupon sells the idea that you offer 50% off your product/service and hopefully you will get repeat business in the future from those same customers.
all a bunch of crap, groupon is only good for cheap bargain hunters like myself.
the businesses offering the coupons are losing money big time. groupon takes a big chunk of those sales too, leaving the business with pennys.
lots of business that have tried it, didnt like it and doesnt recommend it.
Sweeping statements like that don't belong in a marketing forum.
I have no affiliation with Groupon, but that's like saying Adwords "doesn't work".
A guy I know really well offered a month of music lessons for 50% off the first month. On average the students will stay on for 3-6 months or longer.
He had a HUGE response. He paid nothing for the leads.
Through other advertising mediums he would have gladly dropped (he does all of the time) $5k or more for the same leads, and still be well in the black.
It's up to the business to make it work.
Yeah, there are plenty of businesses who give away bargain offers and feel ripped off...
There are plenty of others who use it as a loss leader and stack massive amounts of leads that end up paying off big time.
It's all about the funnel and the backend.
It's just like any other ad network. You can use it like you're supposed to (build a customer base, market long term) or use it like an idiot and fail.
There are plenty of idiots who fail out there.
There's also a few billion of net worth in Groupon that tells me a lot of people advertising through it are happy with the results. You don't build a multi-billion dollar advertising company if the majority of your clients are "losing money big time".
/rant
In Japan Groupon has taken a massive beating lately because lots of businesses were offering special deals but rather than take a short term loss on it they would deliver something of poor quality instead. Nothing pisses people off more than when they go to the movies and use their coupon for a free bag of popcorn and it's some fucking 10 cm high bag with 6 pieces of popcorn in it. You just feel punked. If you can't give people a genuine deal to gain them as a longterm customer then at least don't make an ass of them.
Obviously that's the individual business's responsibility but the pressure is now on Groupon to do more quality control.
Obviously that's the individual business's responsibility but the pressure is now on Groupon to do more quality control.
I did some consulting work last year for a Groupon competitor in the UK. It didn't work out for 90% of business who use it, because
a. It doesn't attract the right sort of customers (it often pulls in price shoppers)
and
b. As you pointed out above, most businesses have a very weak sales funnel.
The ones who do well are businesses where there's a natural pattern of repeat business, and there is an inbuilt resistance to trying a new supplier.
A music teacher is a good example - people will normally stick with them because they like their teaching style rather than price, and taking up a new instrument is the sort of thing people procrastinate over. Hair stylists do quite well out of it too.
However for product retail businesses or one-off "treat" type things like massages, it usually fails. The only way I could see it work is if they have a shit-hot lead capture & remarketing process, from working with someone like me
Groupon still kicks major ass out of all the other coupon wannabes.
Although, Woot has some pretty awesome deals on gadgets.
Although, Woot has some pretty awesome deals on gadgets.
I am thinking of doing one for my cafe when it opens in a few weeks.
50% off a latte or specialty drink.
I think it will work out for me. Lets say the normal cost is 4$ so they pay 2$ but I lose 30% on that so I am only getting 1.40$ per. My cost is .40 for the coffee .25 if they take it to go and another 30 cents for the milk and say 10 cents for flavor. my costs is 1.05 to 0.80 per drink. I still cover my cost for the drink but have super low mark up. But I would say of those who come in I would say a min 30% of them will buy something else at full price.
Will give me some initial volume fast and bring people into the shop.
That's Winning!
50% off a latte or specialty drink.
I think it will work out for me. Lets say the normal cost is 4$ so they pay 2$ but I lose 30% on that so I am only getting 1.40$ per. My cost is .40 for the coffee .25 if they take it to go and another 30 cents for the milk and say 10 cents for flavor. my costs is 1.05 to 0.80 per drink. I still cover my cost for the drink but have super low mark up. But I would say of those who come in I would say a min 30% of them will buy something else at full price.
Will give me some initial volume fast and bring people into the shop.
That's Winning!
These deal offers are totally dependent on where you live for the quality of the offers. In the Tampa Bay Area, FL I have checked both groupon and livingsocial every so often and I have yet to see anything of value. Looking at the past offers history just confirms its a total waste of time to even check the site.