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Local businesses and Groupon

Local businesses and Groupon

Adam

Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Adam
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Local businesses and Groupon
9/28/2017 at 9:42 AM

I was buying groceries the other day and happened to take a quick look at the gift card rack. Sitting there amongst all of the major retailers that you can buy cards for were ones you could get for Groupon.

I’ve gotten to wondering why more local businesses haven’t given it a try by posting offers. I know from my perspective as a bit of a “coupon clipper,” one of the first things I do when visiting a city is check their local Groupon to see if there are any deals in the area... and eating at home I can't get enough of coupon books that are distributed and coupons that come in the mail.

The main local Brandon offer I can recall having used was for Pita Pit, where I paid $12 and got $20 worth of credits to use buying Pitas (so basically 40% off). It was a piece of cake to use from my end and it seemed pretty easy from the store’s end too where I just had to show my phone, then they loaded up something on their own phone to process it. Since everything is processed by credit card taken through the app I assume Groupon then gave the store payments regularly as they received them. From what I could tell this drove quite a few customers their way to try their food (there were dozens of almost all positive reviews posted from people that clearly used it). I can just imagine the potential if there were a critical mass of businesses doing the same to the point where it was worth it for travellers and local folks to check from time to time to see what was available in Brandon.

FWIW it does look like there are a fair amount in Winnipeg including a couple restaurants, movie theatre, bowling, dance classes, a spa, an optical place and various health and wellness stuff.

As far as I can tell there may be an option for Groupon to make it worth my while on the eBrandon end to promote offers businesses have listed by giving a small cut for each offer found through here, and so I see a chance for a “win win” of sort. Consider this an open challenge to Brandon and Westman businesses to give it a shot. I believe enough in the idea that I’d be willing to make a mention in this thread to offers listed locally so that people would know about them. If enough users and businesses find it useful I’d be willing to explore Groupon’s “affiliate program” a little further on my end and maybe have offers regularly featured prominently on eBrandon in some way, shape or form.

The link where businesses can signup is:
https://www.groupon.com/merchant/
I'm curious enough about their signup process for businesses that if anyone decides to give it a try and wants a hand with the tech side of things I'd be open to helping out. I'd signup myself to give it a try, but "buy a free classified, get a classified free" probably isn't the most compelling offer

If your business posts an offer of if anyone learns of something local thats been posted, please let me know!
tre86
Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 171

tre86
Joined: Sep 2014
Posts: 171

small businesses
9/28/2017 at 6:02 PM

All the small businesses I have heard from that have tried it have said they would never do it again.

1. They make you do too good of deals and take too much of the profit, so you don't actually end up making enough money for it to be worth it

2. It doesn't generate repeat business

3. Typically the groupon customer is ONLY there for the deal, so it's not like they're spending any other money at your business

Maybe it would work with some businesses, but from what I've heard, and what you can read online, there's no enough benefit for the business
mackenzie5
Joined: This month
Posts: 420

mackenzie5
Joined: This month
Posts: 420

..
9/28/2017 at 6:09 PM

have never heard anything positive from business owners about groupon , but lots of negatives
Michelle Budiwski

Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 8121

Michelle Budiwski
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 8121

Adam
9/28/2017 at 7:34 PM

Groupon is a huge issue in the Escape Room industry. Very common in cities and I've had many discussions with other owners on Groupon as a marketing and sales technique. Hands down the overwhelming response from those who used it or are in competition with those who do use it is...

No. Just no.

It devalues your product.

By offering Groupon, or even regular sales or discount days, people hesitate to ever pay full price. But unlike sales or discounts, Groupon not only discounts your price to the consumer, it takes a steep percentage too. You may increase revenue with more sales, but your profit margin on those sales is greatly reduced. I've even heard stories of businesses losing money on Groupon sales.

Groupons are great for the bargain hunting consumer, terrible for businesses and in a small community with so many small locally owned and operated businesses, not something we should ever encourage. These are the businesses that support our communities.
Adam

Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Adam
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Groupon
9/28/2017 at 8:39 PM

At its core Groupon is mainly just a different way of offering coupons or sales and in getting the word out on them. Most comments I've seen here one could easily apply to the always hot button topic in business of offering coupons. Theres no shortage of businesses that aren't a fan of coupons.... but there's also no shortage of coupon books, coupon mailers, discount cards making the rounds so there is something to them for the right business. Those coupons (or any business having a temporary sale), like Groupons, are generally not offering a permanently devalued product so much as being clear about a limited time offer of a business' choosing. When a business puts out a coupon, puts on a sale (or presumably a Groupon) they aren't typically doing it with the narrow focus of getting rich off of that one short term offer on that specific product so much as using it as part of an overall strategy to promote their business. Most certainly a promotional strategy that works for one business doesn't necessary work for another business and its product or service and this method of promotion wouldn't be for everyone.

As a point of interest I found the link to the Pita Pita Groupon that expired (its below). 66 reviews, 4 1/2 out of 5 stars on average. Customers loved it, and I know that a lot of businesses love what customers love (so long as they see the numbers adding up in their overall promotional strategy for their business). You can read the comments, including replies from the business itself. Not a lot there that I'd describe as "terrible for business"
https://www.groupon.com/deals/the-pita-pit-3-29250161?nlp=&CID=CA&utm_source=groupon_transaction_succeeded&utm_medium=email&sid=groupon_transaction_succeeded_20170630&eh=b675647ee24e6edd66094ebcbe64350825509c31558e715a5d1a47a3dc2dfad9&date=20173006&sender=rm&s=body&c=link&d=deal-url

The main issue I can see and really the only strong argument I could see that separates it from the perpetual debate about couponing is that Groupon is ultimately the one taking payments and then they will be charging for that service. From a usability standpoint for the customer thats its strength but its also something a business will want to learn the ins and outs of after signing up and before posting/determining an offer that works for them. I haven’t seen a comment yet in this thread from someone with experience trying it from the business side. Would love to see someone give it a try and be in a position to give first hand feedback (or see first hand feedback from one of the very very few that have tried to date locally).
itsalwaysunny
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 412

itsalwaysunny
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 412

Pita pit
9/28/2017 at 8:47 PM

Has a big sign now that says it will not accept Groupon.
Adam

Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Adam
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Link
9/29/2017 at 10:42 AM

This article at the link below is a whopping 6 1/2 years old now (assuming from when it was starting to get attention in larger markets). Seems to be an honest assessment that many ways echos my last post of it being more appropriate for some than others.... they refer to it as either "the best marketing ever or the worst marketing ever" depending on ones business, their approach to advertising and how the math works for them. If you're a business the biggest thing appears to be to not give one's self the wrong idea of it being bargain basement form of advertising. Do the math and only you know if it works for you within your overall promotional strategy.
https://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/doing-the-math-on-a-groupon-deal/
Michelle Budiwski

Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 8121

Michelle Budiwski
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 8121

Then
9/29/2017 at 12:07 PM

Try it yourself. I'd love a Groupon for advertising.
Adam

Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Adam
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

My own
9/29/2017 at 1:12 PM

Michelle Budiwski said "Try it yourself. I'd love a Groupon for advertising. "

Great question. Have given it thought in the past but imo the strength of it from a usability standpoint for the customer is how it simplifies the taking of payments and then how it uses that info to be able to track who has used the deal. From there they can let businesses limit how many people use the offer. I have no interest in being a middle man for payments with businesses, Groupon has invented that wheel quite well. Without that feature anything else would essentially be a simple app wrapper around some coupons which doesn't add a lot of value to what's already available.

The other factor to consider is that half of the benefit of this kind of app specifically if to people that are passing through/travelling. When targeting people in that situation you're better off having it be done with a brand that they know.

I respect your passion and that you've taken the chance to share an opinion, it's been taken into account with what other folks are sharing. The intent of this thread was not to go in a ton of different directions so much as put the thought out here and give an opportunity for anyone that may be interested. All the best

Adam

Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Adam

Joined: Mar 2005

Posts: 15663

Business

9/29/2017 at 1:15 PM

TEN said "As a business owner I did look at Groupon. I found that it would be very expensive advertising. There at just so many ways that I can give away money and product without a middleman taking their cut. It is complicated, expensive and an additional accounting procedure to keep track of.
Everyone in my type of business have said the same thing, basically stay away from it. "

Thx for sharing your thoughts.
That's one thing I read in the Nytimes link above hat seems to be a consideration for many. It does require a bit of a different way of doing business at least on the particular offer and timeline that it's on, and that won't be something everyone is prepared to do.
I'm just trying to get a handle on what types of businesses seem to find use of it more than others and am curious what line of biz you're in if you don't mind my asking. So far from what I've seen (and what I've experienced as a user) it's restaurants and entertainment that seem to be able to work better than others.