Groupon

[Envious Eric]

I am willing to schedule out 2 months, or put ENVIOUS on a temporary hold for a few weeks to handle the demand, should there be one. I want to get the other one up and running asap, and I think Groupon will be a pretty good way to jumpstart it! At the very least, a lot of people will know about the name, and I'll at least break even or come up a bit to put back into the business....



....still waiting on the website...sometimes a hookup from a friend costs you in the end! (should have been up and live 3 weeks ago)

 

[brwill2005]

The question is: will the people who buy the deal, be willing to wait that long. Just some things to keep in mind. If you feel it makes sense for you, by all means go for it.

 

[Jpostal]

Just wanted give an update a groupon deal that a local shop did a month ago.



The deal he offered was 2 mini details (wash, vac, and interior wipe down) for $49. Of that, Groupon took about half leaving him with $25 per deal sold. The week after the deal he was slammed with work and he continues to get a lot of coupons come in. He said it has become a bit of a nightmare because the cars are generally dirtier than average and he suspects that he will not see many repeat customers from the deal. He also gets a lot of customers that are upset because he is closed on the weekend and appointments are required during the week.

 

[5pointadam]

BAN GROUPON! Here is groupon's system. Normal service price is $100. Groupon sells it for $50. Groupon keeps $25. So say your mini detail is $100. You keep $25. Unless you do a way crappier job for your groupon customers please tell me how you don't lose on that? I get calls from those companies everyday. I mean if I was selling ice-cream cones and breaking even I guess it makes sense. Or if you have a tunnel wash and every job is the same no matter the car or customer I can see it. I just do not see how it applies to detail shops. Plus I hate that a corporation is profiting off of my business for doing virtually nothing. I also feel that groupon is praying on business owners in a down economy. Look at it this way if everyone keeps buying groupon for everything from groceries to movie tickets to clothes to detailing. Pretty soon everything will be worth half and the big companies, google, yelp, groupon will own 25% of every dollar you make. Plus they'll be essentially forcing you to charge less.

Another example, let's say I get my hair cut this week for $6, but next week it's $15 but there is another haircut being offered for $6 at a different store through groupon I'll probably just go there. I don't buy groupon, and I will not offer groupon. PERIOD.

 

[MichaelM]

For the sake of playing the devil's advocate let's take a quick look at the bright side of this type of promotion.



We'll use an example I found through Google.



The offer: $200 worth of services for $99



Total sold: ~150



Gross sales: $15,000



Businesses Cut: $7,500



So for zero invested this business gets $7,500 in hand and ~150 new customers. Each of those customers come to them with essentially a gift certificate worth $200. Is there a potential to sell a package worth more then $200? I would think so. If you impress these customers will they come back at some point? Maybe. Will they tell people they know about your business? Most likely, yes. That's the best type of advertising out there, and it's free.



Now, if you have more business then you can handle then good for you. Also, if you're trying to be exclusively "high-end" you shouldn't ever consider discounting your services, volume or not. One man operations, no way, you can't handle that many customers successfully in a short time span.



The question is, can your business use an influx of new customers? Don't worry about what "type" of customer they are. It makes no difference, their money is all the same color. The more happy customers and good work you put on the street the better it is for your business.



I think the key point is to not look at this deal as only making 25% of your normal rate but rather look at the potential that you have in impressing these new customers and essentially opening up your business to their repeat business and everyone in their Rolodex. That is the real benefit.