Groupon succuss stories

[Andy Walpole]

Does anybody have any Groupon success stories that they'd like to share with us?

 

[Andy Walpole]

I'll bump this to see if anybody else has one

 

[stugster]

I just got off the phone with them.. They're calling back tomorrow about an offer we might be placing.

i'll be interested to see the terms/how it really works, and what kind of position they'll put us in.

 

[Newcott]

Am I missing something - all thoese places are US based?

 

[neildigital]

I have bought off off them, but not actually thought about advertising on it....

They are uk based as well.

 

[stugster]

Am I missing something - all thoese places are US based?

 

[Richie N]

Funny this has been posted as we were approached by these this week.
Basically they want you to advertise with them, your product will be given a discount of at least 60% off in order for the vouchers to be purchased.
Then the amount they sell for, you split this 50/50 with them.
They wanted us to sell a main course and soup for £3, which means £1.50 after this deal.
Not sure it would really work as it would cost us money to give it away at this price....

 

[Toni Anicic]

Funny this has been posted as we were approached by these this week.
Basically they want you to advertise with them, your product will be given a discount of at least 60% off in order for the vouchers to be purchased.
Then the amount they sell for, you split this 50/50 with them.
They wanted us to sell a main course and soup for £3, which means £1.50 after this deal.
Not sure it would really work as it would cost us money to give it away at this price....

Smart thinking

I already linked to this article down in the E-commerce forums... Everyone should read this before using Groupon-like websites. It's a nice 11 part review / case study of how this thing actually works and all the things you need to consider http://www.retaildoc.com/blog/groupon-worst-marketing-business/

 

[steve23]

On the face of it does not seem like a bad idea but.....

Seeing as how you have to split your profits with the web site I cant help but think that you could just as easily advertise the 60% off yourself and at least keep all of the takings.

I mean, if you discount something by that much and still need to use another persons web site to generate sales your in the wrong business surely !

All the best

Steve

 

[adventurelife]

They have called me on several occasions but I cannot figure out how to make it work. Several of my competition are doing it but I believe in an unethical way.

Example.

I sell a trip for £40pp Groupon want to sell it for a maximum of £20pp

There fee for doing so is £10pp so I am actually selling at 25% of my retail

Now that makes me a loss , a big one so if they send me 500 people it just makes me a bigger loss.

What they suggested

Make up a new package with adding something more and so they can start from a higher price. They suggested selling at £80 discounted to £40 with them taking £20 and we get £20pp.

I used to think customers would see through that but just seen a competitor do it and they got over 400 bookings.

I am sure it can work for some products or services but to me it s devaluing ours the only people doing well out of it are groupon.

 

[adventurelife]

On the face of it does not seem like a bad idea but.....

Seeing as how you have to split your profits with the web site I cant help but think that you could just as easily advertise the 60% off yourself and at least keep all of the takings.

I mean, if you discount something by that much and still need to use another persons web site to generate sales your in the wrong business surely !

All the best

Steve

Steve

You are not splitting your profits with Groupon. You are splitting your revenue A very very different thing

 

[steve23]

Oh yes - i see what you mean - what i meant was you have to split the final price with the web site - as said, the revenue.

Really seems a mad idea to me - cant see anyway to make it work that i could not just do myself and make more money (or at least generate more revenue)

All the best

Steve

 

[Agent_Dan]

I'm a big fan of the GroupOn offers and have already taken advantage of a few of them since only signing up a couple of weeks ago.

But although it is excellent from a customer pov, maybe it does ask a lot from a business perspective. I have found that the price they claim to discount from is often pretty high for what it is and i had thought that this figure had been exaggerated to show a higher discount.

still, excellent deals to be had

 

[stugster]

Steve

You are not splitting your profits with Groupon. You are splitting your revenue A very very different thing

When I was on the phone to them they made it pretty clear they weren't interested in the usual "PC Check-Up" service and that they had sent away at least 3 competitors because it's not the kind of service they want.

What I don't understand is how a business like mine, where you're losing out on the discount to the client, and then the money to GroupOn (and then possibly their transaction fees?) how an IT firm makes any money on it...

 

[MASSEY]

It just seems like a spin on voucher code sites. An educated guess from me would say it's not worth it, you should focus efforts elsewhere.

 

[Richie N]

Smart thinking

I already linked to this article down in the E-commerce forums... Everyone should read this before using Groupon-like websites. It's a nice 11 part review / case study of how this thing actually works and all the things you need to consider http://www.retaildoc.com/blog/groupon-worst-marketing-business/

Excellent read and it's definitely answered my concerns.
I think I will avoid

 

[crossdaz]

I am sure it can work for some products or services but to me it s devaluing ours the only people doing well out of it are groupon.

Some businesses are desperate for sales - even if those sales cost them money. They think it will lead to more sales or up-selling opportunities and it usually doesn't because the customers they get are looking for bargains and nothing else.

 

[SamStones]

I looked at Groupon, and will only repeat what others have said already... it just doesn't seem worth it. They suggested creating a voucher for say 80% of my average basket total, that way customers would have to spend a little more than the voucher amount... still didn't work out though sadly!

 

[Psl]

Smart thinking

I already linked to this article down in the E-commerce forums... Everyone should read this before using Groupon-like websites. It's a nice 11 part review / case study of how this thing actually works and all the things you need to consider http://www.retaildoc.com/blog/groupon-worst-marketing-business/

That was a very interesting read."This promotion also stole sales from regular customers who would have bought more later in the year impacting her bottom line during the crucial bill-paying month of September."

I got an email from Groupon the the other day offering a Balloon flight by Virgin for £149 but a quick internetty search gets me the same flight from £99, strange:|

 

[lesliedocherty]

A friend done 500 vouchers for a free hair colouring for £29, normally £85, sold out within 2 hours.

The service takes almost 3 hours, she uses juniors to carry it out, she hoped to sell hair product and get repeat custom BUT not 1 person bought product and most of the customers are from as far away as Edinburgh and wouldn't use the Hairdressers at Full price.

To be fair her juniors have been kept busy for the past 4 weeks and have got a lot of experience.

 

[dadii]

quite happy with the Yoga deal I just bought last week. Had first lesson on Wednesday and it was good, so the discounting was sweet

 

[bmosio]

I am working with a new start up called Your Deal Daily which will feature deals in London and in other cities. Our business model is same as groupon with several different USP such as concentrating on independent retailers and charging less commission than groupon.

I am looking for businesses based in London who would like to advertise on our website, its totally free, you get exposed to thousands of subscribers and will be promoted on facebook and twitter. And for each deal sold you will get a bigger commission than you would with groupon.

Feel free to email me via this forum and I will be more than happy to help any business who wants to get exposed to thousands of new customers.

 

[FlexF]

I am working with a new start up called Your Deal Daily which will feature deals in London and in other cities. Our business model is same as groupon with several different USP such as concentrating on independent retailers and charging less commission than groupon.

I am looking for businesses based in London who would like to advertise on our website, its totally free, you get exposed to thousands of subscribers and will be promoted on facebook and twitter. And for each deal sold you will get a bigger commission than you would with groupon.

Feel free to email me via this forum and I will be more than happy to help any business who wants to get exposed to thousands of new customers.

Good luck but if you are going to need VERY deep pockets to gain any traction. If you dont have a large user base you arent attractive to most business. If you dont have attractive businesses on the site you arent attractive to users.

 

[sellmybusinessonline]

it works best with businesses which can upsell. the deal & discount means you're essentially getting 25% of your normal price so you have to maximise the opportunity to up/cross sell.

 

[HFE Signs]

A friend of mine did it, and it worked well, depends a lot on your business, but the discounts he had to offer took the profit out, he said its good to raise awareness but not for making money... my feeling is if you do this and people come back, they won't want to pay more than they did before... but this is just what he said, I've not done it myself...