The attraction of huge numbers of customers from collective buying sites, such as Groupon, can be hard to resist for most small businesses. By offering incredible discounts that are greater than half-off the original price, these sites offer the potential to generate hundreds to tens of thousands of sales from new customers within a single day. But is it a good idea for your business?
There is no doubt that it's a great deal for the consumer who can receive greater than 50% off services that they can't normally find elsewhere. But let's look at it from the perspective of your business. With Groupon taking a 50% cut of each voucher (already at least 50%), the total expense of attaining those sales from a merchant's standpoint can be very overwhelming. Depending on the cost of the voucher, it may not be a cost effective to use group buying sites like Groupon to generate sales.
Groupon versus Promoting Your own 50% off Sale
Let's consider the option for your business to run you own discount sales compared to going through Groupon. As an example let's say you're selling $40 worth of services for $20 and Groupon is able to generate 500 group coupon sales for you. Typically Groupon takes 50% of the voucher sales which would be $5,000. Now if you ran your own sale, you'd be able to keep that $5,000 and use it to promote the 50% off sale instead. Five thousand dollars worth of online advertising can go a long way.
To make a more accurate comparison of running your own half-off sale versus using Groupon you'd need to know 1) how much an average customer's contact information is worth for your business, and 2) the advertising costs required to generate one 50%-off sale. In the example above, you're essentially paying Groupon, $10 for each sale ($5,000/500 sales). Could you attain one 50%-off sale for $10 worth of well-targeted ads on Facebook or Google? If we assume that Facebook charges you only $0.05 per click, that's 200 chances per $10 you have to make a sale and gain that important new email contact. A 1% (1 sale/200 clicks) conversion rate doesn't sound too difficult considering that you're also offering a 50%-off coupon.
Repeat Customers are the Key to Grouponomics
Another important metric to consider when making your decision is the potential for the customer to generate a single 50%-off voucher sale versus becoming a long-term repeat customer. Strengthening customer loyalty should be a top priority for every small business owner. Once you've spent the money to get new customers in the door, your highest priority should be to deliver the best possible services to ensure that they return. Unfortunately Groupon hasn't reported the average return rate for Groupon buyers that redeem their vouchers.
Is your ideal repeat customer the type of person who would be use Groupon? If so great, but if not, then your chances of repeat business is very low. In order to get a better understanding of this, let's look at the types of buyers you typically find using Groupon:
- The Economical Buyer
The "Economical Buyer" springs into action the minute he logs on his computer in the morning. He looks for a deal at a restaurant or bar he has avoided because he is too cheap to pay full price. The "Economical Buyer" is very unlikely to provide repeat business unless you are going to continue these drastic discounts off your products/services. - The Penny Pincher
These buyers are obsessed with trying anything and everything they haven't yet experienced in their city. They treat Groupon like a giant buffet offering hundreds of businesses for them to sample. Normally a small business would be happy to have Groupons sold to people that like trying new places. But "The Penny Pincher" never thinks twice about going back to someplace a second time, they're too focused on lining up plans to visit the next 10 places that offer a deal. - The Coup-o-halic
These folks look at Groupons as free money. "Wait, you mean I spend $10 and get $25? That's like $15 free!" As a result, they buy every single deal that is offered. Hoarding these Groupons to use at the absolute best, most useful, cost-saving moment, they drastically alter their shopping and living behaviors for months at a time in order to live off the stockpiled deals they have accumulating around them. These are the same type of people that would go to five different grocery stores for the weeks groceries just so they can get redeem that weeks coupons. - Your Current Customers
This guy isn't going to waste his time trying new places or buying Groupons he may or may not use. He knows what he likes and sticks to the same routine and establishments each week. He doesn't get caught up in the hype of Groupons for new or trendy places, but he watches the offers like a hawk. The moment a Groupon is offered to a place he visits regularly, boom! He's on it like white on rice, buying the maximum allowable number of Groupons. Then he smugly but awkwardly spends the next 8 weeks using a Groupon for his $30 bar tab at his local watering hole.
Groupon for the consumer is a big win. Clearly. But for businesses, Groupon is just another cog to add to their marketing efforts. Groupon is merely an advertising model. It's an ad disguised as a coupon in an effort to channel a coupon hungry consumer to the storefront of a business, albeit 'temporarily'. As you might expect, once the coupon no longer exists....neither does the interest. Remember our 50% off example? Work out your own costs and figure out just how much it is costing you to acquire those customers and then compare it to other marketing channels.