The Groupon Solution

  In case you haven’t been paying attention,  Groupon and Living Social are all the rage these days when it comes to mingling electronic and social media marketing.   From the consumer’s standpoint its great. You and your friends opt in and receive the daily deal via email, usually a service based, retail or restaurant deal that is 50% off the regular price or more. If enough people buy it, then everybody gets it. But if the minimum number isn’t sold then the deal goes bust and nobody gets it.  If the criteria is met, Groupon charges your credit card, sends you the coupon, then turns around and pays the business.  

 Sounds pretty good for the business.  They get exposure to a huge customer list that they wouldn’t otherwise and if the numbers crunch maybe even make a little money in the process.  But that’s where it gets sticky. You see Groupon keeps about half of whatever the deal generates. Add to that the already 50% off the regular price, and the $50 worth of goods or services offered ends up netting the business $12.50.   Service type industries might be able to make that work, restaurants maybe, but retailers maybe not.

  So, how can a business make the most of it’s Groupon deal, or Living Social special?
When you think about it; what do these two fast growing entities bring to the table? Simple answer; a large database of people (and their emails) that may or may not want what your selling.  Groupon claims to have a young, urban, mainly female audience with lots of disposable income. If its the businesses ideal customer, all the better.
 
 But regardless of demographic breakdown,  a strategy to gather customer information from those that use the Groupons or Living Social’s deal of the day makes a ton of sense for the business. Why should Groupon be the only one with a customer database? What if  500 “deals” were sold? The business would be wise to ask each of those customers for an email address and segment that group out from regular customers. The business owner has immediate access to 500 of people willing to pay “ X”  for their service. Best of all, the business keeps all the money, effectively doubling the take by not having to split it with Groupon or Living Social.