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40% of Groupon merchants say "never again"

marketingpilgrim.com

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Re: 40% of Groupon merchants say "never again"

#91

Post by gommm »

jrockway wrote: post #73
edw519 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So maybe 15% isn't much when you consider how difficult it is to build your own e-store? 15% isn't much when you consider how difficult it is to acquire a customer. Everyone I've loaded onto Amazon already has their own e-store. But here's what happens...Sales increases 10 to 20% almost instantly. But profits don't because of the 15% commission. If you have a premium product with a large margin and no e-store, Amazon…

Interesting. Everyone I've bought from on the Amazon Marketplace has totally failed to "recruit" me as a customer. I typically get a box with what I ordered in it, and maybe an invoice. Nothing asking me to visit their website or anything like that, ever.

A long time ago, Abebooks recruited me as a customer like this.. They were selling on amazon market place and with their follow up to my order convinced me to visit their website.

So, I think it can be done, I'm just surprised that not more company do it...

Re: 40% of Groupon merchants say "never again"

#92

Post by cullenking »

pasbesoin wrote: post #47

Here's my quite speculative thinking on the whole mess, admittedly also without having followed it in much detail. It's not worth your time chasing such elusive bargains, unless your time is not worth a lot. (Exception, the "excitement of the hunt". See Atlantic City, Las Vegas, etc.) If your time is not worth a lot, you're not going to be buying much (no resources). I.e. you're a low value acquisition as a customer.…

I agree with your last point - I won't purchase Groupons for events anymore, as they are miserably packed, and many of the people aren't enjoyable to be around (obviously anecdotal).

Most recently, OMSI (local science museum in Portland) offered half off admission to their adults only evening admission. The place was crawling with trashed people complaining about too much reading and that there needed to be more hands on exhibits.

Re: 40% of Groupon merchants say "never again"

#93

Post by bapadna »

pg wrote: post #71
edw519 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do local retailers really need customer info? They do if they want to get them away from Groupon. I have e-commerce customers who love Amazon Merchant because it's cheaper to acquire customers than SEO or buying mailing lists. But nothing pisses them off more than a customer who comes through Amazon a second time, costing them all their profit. They need to save the customer info in order to make the second sale a di…

I don't believe that would be true except for local businesses that are selling a commodity. Those who hope to convert me into a repeat customer based on the quality of their donuts or haircuts will do it after one visit.

My barber sends me a coupon at about the time I need my next haircut. That coupon converted me to a regular, even though I always forget to bring it with me. It reminds me to make an appointment with him, not one of the many other haircut options that I consider acceptable. He got my home address by flat out asking if he could have it after I was a walk-in one day.

My wife's favorite spa has also figured out that sending me follow-on ads is a pretty effective sales pitch, as I semi-routinely say 'hey, she deserves another half-day at the spa.' They got my email address from an initial online sale.

I don't get any follow-on advertising from donut places, but there's a local restaurant who uses email to fill out slow nights with some really nice prix fixe dinners. Every now and then one shows up in my inbox, sounds delicious, and I don't feel like cooking, and they make an additional sale. They started doing so after I made a reservation on OpenTable, and our dining frequency jumped substantially.

Re: 40% of Groupon merchants say "never again"

#94

Post by ericd »

joe_the_user wrote: post #70
TheSOB88 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that we're not dealing with completely rational, all-knowing merchants here. We're dealing with real life, and people have other things on their minds, like the pressures of running a business. If Groupon can't explain itself and how it differs from established marketing, the kind the merchants are used to, then it will fail. It has to provide value to real merchants. That certainly includes educating…

It all turns on whether Groupon sells at commodity level or at a service level. If Groupon is selling group-discounts as commodity, then that it. It's your job to figure out how to use them. Google sells click-throughs and Home Depot sells cement. They might each be perfectly good but if you don't use them right, they won't do you any good. If Groupon is like personal trainer and provides ongoing value, then does nee…

Good point. Commodity business require sophisticated users - brick and mortar businesses are not sophisticated users of online marketing, so Groupon needs to be doing a better job at the service level.

Re: 40% of Groupon merchants say "never again"

#95

Post by ianium »

gommm wrote: post #91
jrockway wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. Everyone I've bought from on the Amazon Marketplace has totally failed to "recruit" me as a customer. I typically get a box with what I ordered in it, and maybe an invoice. Nothing asking me to visit their website or anything like that, ever.

A long time ago, Abebooks recruited me as a customer like this.. They were selling on amazon market place and with their follow up to my order convinced me to visit their website. So, I think it can be done, I'm just surprised that not more company do it...

Ironic that Abebooks, of all sites, managed to convert you: they are an Amazon subsidiary.

Re: 40% of Groupon merchants say "never again"

#96

Post by gommm »

ianium wrote: post #95
gommm wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A long time ago, Abebooks recruited me as a customer like this.. They were selling on amazon market place and with their follow up to my order convinced me to visit their website. So, I think it can be done, I'm just surprised that not more company do it...

Ironic that Abebooks, of all sites, managed to convert you: they are an Amazon subsidiary.

They are now, but they weren't back then (I think it was around 2005)...

But I guess that if Amazon bought them, it shows they were good at what they did :-)

Re: 40% of Groupon merchants say "never again"

#97

Post by gommm »

garply wrote: post #10

I'm a physical goods retailer and I'd like to point out a bit of group-think on HN's part. 3 months ago, I asked you guys if I should use a Groupon clone ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1490096 ) and I got overwhelmingly positive responses (someone even called my concerns paranoid). Now the place is littered with negative attitudes toward Groupon. I don't think the facts underpinning my worries have changed, on…

By the way garply, I'm curious where in China are you based? If you're in Shanghai, let's meet up...

I can't comment on the group think or not on Groupon here.

One thing though, as a user of groupon type deals (well meituan, lashou and enjoymeitian), I find that most deals I bought didn't bring anything for the shop owner... Either the discount was too steep and in that case I'm unlikely to ever want to pay the full price to come again or it's a shop I already know and enjoy (happens to me a lot with restaurants deals).

So, I think that Groupon and clones are a useful tool to have, but one needs to think very carefully on how to formulate the deals. The discount shouldn't be too big or you'll attract people who are too cheap (or don't have enough money) to pay for your service at normal price. You also need to find a way to make them come back. For restaurants and cafes, this can be done with adding them to a mailinglist and organizing regular events...

Re: 40% of Groupon merchants say "never again"

#98

Post by singer »

wiredfool wrote: post #80
singer wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to the article, less than 32% of the customers visited once. "The 32% that said they didn’t make a profit from the program reported that customers rarely bought more than the coupon deal and few returned to the business at a later date." If over 68% of the customers returned, then I'd call that a huge success.

No, That quote is about the businesses, not the customers.

Customers from 32% of the businesses did not return. 32% of the businesses said customers did not return. Hmmm... seems like the same thing to me.
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