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Loopt Tries a Groupon in Reverse

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Re: Loopt Tries a Groupon in Reverse

#41

Post by americandesi333 »

When I read this article, it screamed Priceline to me. Its essentially doing the same thing that Priceline does for the travel industry. Its asking customers to select a deal or 'bid' on a deal and then uses that knowledge to close the deal with the restaurants. Like Priceline, Loopt will already have the credit card info and I am guessing the customer will be charged automatically.

The key here is timing. Its easier for Priceline to check on the bids with airlines because most of the airline systems support rapid data transfer. In the case of restaurants, it is difficult to predict and build a automated way to get 'approvals'. Therefore, the time it takes for them to get answer back from the restaurant will determine the success of uDeal.

Re: Loopt Tries a Groupon in Reverse

#42

Post by joe_the_user »

nhashem wrote: post #9

While it's a theoretically cool concept, the actual implementation doesn't appeal that much to me as a consumer and I'm not sure it'll really appeal to businesses. Would I want to get $20 at a nearby pizza place for $10? Sure. But how useful is it if I have to wait an indeterminate amount of time (if ever) to get the deal? I'm likely to only suggest local businesses that I frequent a lot anyway, and how useful is it…

I have a weekly gamer meeting that always orders a pizza. We could easily put in a deal offer of this sort.

This might not be everyone but I think a lot of folks have a routine they could leverage for a pizza deal.

Re: Loopt Tries a Groupon in Reverse

#43

Post by seanos »

dusklight wrote: post #37
nhashem wrote: post #9

While it's a theoretically cool concept, the actual implementation doesn't appeal that much to me as a consumer and I'm not sure it'll really appeal to businesses. Would I want to get $20 at a nearby pizza place for $10? Sure. But how useful is it if I have to wait an indeterminate amount of time (if ever) to get the deal? I'm likely to only suggest local businesses that I frequent a lot anyway, and how useful is it…

How's this. I want to buy a new graphics card. It retails for $200. I offer to buy it for $150, the store makes a smaller margin but still profits. You might not wait a long time to get a pizza but would be willing to wait a few days to see if you can get the new cellphone or laptop at a cheaper price?

Still suffers from the problem that in order to obtain the discount, a bunch of other people would have to request the discount on the graphics card in those few days. That's unlikely so I probably wouldn't bother asking for the discount (in turn, everyone else is thinking the same, which makes it even less likely).

Re: Loopt Tries a Groupon in Reverse

#44

Post by yaix »

patio11 wrote: post #13
nhashem wrote: post #9

While it's a theoretically cool concept, the actual implementation doesn't appeal that much to me as a consumer and I'm not sure it'll really appeal to businesses. Would I want to get $20 at a nearby pizza place for $10? Sure. But how useful is it if I have to wait an indeterminate amount of time (if ever) to get the deal? I'm likely to only suggest local businesses that I frequent a lot anyway, and how useful is it…

A friend of mine has a company in Japan which pretty much solved this. Solution: big digital billboard in mall which aggregates tweets from mall merchants. If nobody is getting their hair cut, they tweet "$5 off for next person at Cheap Cuts" from cell phone. Merchants/mall apparently think it is a gift from God.

Simple and useful. Good idea.

Re: Loopt Tries a Groupon in Reverse

#45

Post by stcredzero »

patio11 wrote: post #13
nhashem wrote: post #9

While it's a theoretically cool concept, the actual implementation doesn't appeal that much to me as a consumer and I'm not sure it'll really appeal to businesses. Would I want to get $20 at a nearby pizza place for $10? Sure. But how useful is it if I have to wait an indeterminate amount of time (if ever) to get the deal? I'm likely to only suggest local businesses that I frequent a lot anyway, and how useful is it…

A friend of mine has a company in Japan which pretty much solved this. Solution: big digital billboard in mall which aggregates tweets from mall merchants. If nobody is getting their hair cut, they tweet "$5 off for next person at Cheap Cuts" from cell phone. Merchants/mall apparently think it is a gift from God.

Solution: big digital billboard in mall which aggregates tweets from mall merchants.

A virtual billboard in the form of a smartphone app might be preferable in different kinds of public spaces. It might also be a good adjunct to the digital billboard.

Re: Loopt Tries a Groupon in Reverse

#46

Post by cemregr »

Hovertruck wrote: post #7

Honest question... Does anyone on HN use Loopt? I've tried it a few times over the years and it never really comes to close to making me want to continue using it.

Haven't seen any Loopt activity on my social networks for a long time now. Are they in the deadpool?

Re: Loopt Tries a Groupon in Reverse

#47

Post by webjprgm »

Sounds stupid for the small businesses, because only people who already know about a place will ask for a deal there, so they won't be getting any new eyeballs and probably no new customers either. It will just be people wanting deals at places they already go to.

Re: Loopt Tries a Groupon in Reverse

#49

Post by bugsy »

nhashem wrote: post #9

While it's a theoretically cool concept, the actual implementation doesn't appeal that much to me as a consumer and I'm not sure it'll really appeal to businesses. Would I want to get $20 at a nearby pizza place for $10? Sure. But how useful is it if I have to wait an indeterminate amount of time (if ever) to get the deal? I'm likely to only suggest local businesses that I frequent a lot anyway, and how useful is it…

> ask your local pizza place for a discount and they could instantly reply whether they granted it or not

Sure, that's haggling, it's done pretty much everywhere in the world and throughout all of history. Where it hasn't worked is with franchises staffed by dummies working out of a handbook as it's considered too risky if one lets staff have such control over prices in case they grant their friends discounts. WalMart allows their staff to set prices though and it works there. They don't haggle though. It would be pretty nice to see haggling implemented in modern strip mall sorts of places.

Re: Loopt Tries a Groupon in Reverse

#50

Post by dguaraglia »

jhamburger wrote: post #36

"Hi, I have 15 customers I've led along to believe they might get a half off deal at your restaurant, are you game or should I just tell them your word is no good?"

This is actually quite an interesting (if somewhat poignant) argument. In a way your name as a merchant might suffer even if you didn't add yourself to the system. This might be the Achilles heel of the whole operation.

Edit: typo. 'Achilles Hill'? Really?

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