I discount my coupon as well and find myself doing the work for free. Why doing you give your product a different name and 2. I typically only buy from Groupon or Living Social because it is a good deal. I have yet to do repeat business with a company that I have got an online deal from. The only exception is Amazon.
Sign me up for that deal every time! I strongly believe that if a business leaves an impression, there will be a high chance of repeat business. A few of my friends had bad experiences using the coupons — they were looked down on as if they were the bottom of the heap type of citizens. One hairdresser even made a trainee do my friends hair instead of the actual hairdresser.
All bad experiences for Groupon and those establishments. As you say they should be used for marketing — getting footfall through the door — and then being extra special so that person goes and talks about it in a good way. I have to give Groupon and the likes great props for the hard sell they are able to give on merchants.
You are almost ensured an upsell, its cheap for people to try and it comes to parity with running one yourself Almost, its still cheaper to run your own. Excellent article. I live in Colombia South America , and Groupon here has 18 investigations for misleading advertising an already 10 fines were imposed on I hear so many horror stories about the way businesses act with Groupon customers and businesses complaining customers never return.
I launched a Groupon campaign for my new massage location with great success. At the end of the services, I gave my clients an incentive to come back with a no pressure scenario. Couldnt agree mor about being treated badly for using a voucher. I bought a voucher for a hotel 2 night with 1 meal for myself and my wife. The only reasn I bought it was for peace of mind, we knew there was a childs christening in the future but not when so having the voucher tucked away suited us.
Long story short the christening didnt happen so we travelled purely for a weekend away and to use the voucher. The room was fine, no issues but when we went to avail of our meal we were informed that we werent allowed use the restaurant and could only eat in the bar! We were then handed two raffle tickets and told to present them and tell the barman it was a groupon deal. Not only could we not use the restaurant but we couldnt even order from the full bar menu!
We were treated like lesser humans and the decreased service which to our minds was exactly as you say above, an attempt to recoup the groupon fee.
I happened to notice a handwritten sign by the register that Read: Any Groupon customers getting gels will be charged for removal of any existing polish. I tried to buy a shrug but after several attempts I gave up as there was a confusion over my e-mail address. Is the shrug on the way to me or what? Some places treat you fine, others not so much.
I like Groupon because it allows me to try new places. If I like it, I have come back and paid full price when the deals are over. My sister said as much to me. I think businesses should only use these coupon services for a limited time. Coupons are offered by Merchants to consumers throughout the Site, including, without limitation, a portion of the Site dedicated to Coupons. Coupons are subject to the terms and conditions as specified by the Merchant.
By obtaining or purchasing a Coupon through the Site, you acquire the right to redeem the Coupon with the Merchant. Any service fee retained by LivingSocial from the sale of a Coupon, if applicable, is compensation to LivingSocial for marketing, promoting, advertising, and distributing the Coupons on behalf of the Merchant.
As the issuer of the Coupon, the Merchant shall be fully responsible for any and all Liabilities, caused in whole or in part by the Merchant, as well as for any Liabilities arising from any regulatory action.
Coupons have no cash or residual value. LivingSocial is not a party to any transaction that the Merchant and you may enter into as a result of you purchasing any Coupon. Merchant Gift Cards are offered by Merchants to consumers subject to the terms and conditions specified by the Merchant on the face of the Merchant Gift Card.
Any service fee retained by LivingSocial from the sale of a Merchant Gift Card is compensation to LivingSocial for marketing, promoting, advertising, and distributing the Merchant Gift Cards on behalf of the Merchant. As the issuer of the Merchant Gift Card, the Merchant shall be fully responsible for any and all Liabilities, caused in whole or in part by the Merchant, as well as for any Liabilities arising from any regulatory action.
LivingSocial does not make any warranty in relation to the Merchant Gift Cards, including, without limitation, their validity or value. LivingSocial is not a party to any transaction that the Merchant and you may enter into as a result of you purchasing any Merchant Gift Card. Through the Site, certain Merchants allow you to purchase delivery service and take out service for food, beverages, and any other products.
Any charges for delivery and takeout services, processing fees or applicable sales taxes will be added at checkout. The Merchant is solely responsible for the care, preparation, safety, quality, and availability of the food and beverages being provided. Descriptions of the food, beverages, and any other products advertised on the Site and their availability are provided by the Merchant or other referenced third parties. LivingSocial does not investigate or vet Merchants, and LivingSocial is not responsible for any performance or quality claims associated with the description or availability of, or the accuracy, safety, or quality of, the food, beverages and any other products.
LivingSocial does not guarantee that it offers best available rates or prices and does not guarantee or warranty against pricing errors. If an order becomes unavailable between ordering and processing, LivingSocial will either cancel or not process the order and will attempt to notify you by email. LivingSocial reserves the right, in its sole discretion, not to process or to cancel any orders placed, including, without limitation, if the price was incorrectly posted on the Site. LivingSocial may also refuse to process a purchase, may cancel a purchase, or may limit quantities or delivery to particular addresses, as reasonably deemed necessary, or to otherwise comply with applicable law, to respond to a case of misrepresentation, fraud or known or potential violations of the law or the Terms of Use.
Drivers responsible for delivery services are either 1 independent contractors of LivingSocial, or 2 employees or agents of Merchants. LivingSocial cannot and does not guarantee specific delivery times, nor does it guarantee the accuracy of its delivery tracker technology. Through the Site, certain Merchants allow you to book appointments for salon and spa services on a specific date and time, and most allow you to also pay for those salon and spa services through the Site.
The booking of your appointment is not complete until you receive confirmation from LivingSocial that your appointment is confirmed. Products that you purchase through the Site are subject to the terms below:. Terms of Sale. Additional terms applicable to traditional Vouchers.
A traditional Voucher is any Voucher other than a Coupon, ticket, a Local Pick-Up Voucher described below , or a Voucher redeemable for ticketed events e. A traditional Voucher has two separate values: i the amount paid and ii the promotional value. The promotional value is the additional value beyond the amount paid.
The Merchant is responsible for permitting you to redeem the Voucher for at least the amount paid, even after the promotional value has expired. The promotional value of a traditional Voucher may not be combined with other offers and no portion of its value is intended to cover tax or gratuity. Traditional Vouchers are not reloadable, meaning that the amount paid of the Voucher cannot be increased, but are fully transferrable.
Additional terms for Tickets and Admission Vouchers. You can find all related articles and news on Gourmet Marketing website. To some, LivingSocial is an afterthought, but it should not be. This puts LivingSocial future on equal footing with Groupon, even if it lags in market share and in brand awareness.
The social element of the company appeals to the growing social media presence in modern marketing, and LivingSocial capitalizes on that trend by offering package deals. Restaurants can craft their offers as part of entertainment packages for travelers, concert dinner-and-show packages and other types of live-event deals. LivingSocial has offices in Washington, D. This stat compares to 30 percent for Groupon. The company was started in by four employees of Revolution Health Group.
Initially conceived as a Facebook application for sharing books and reviews with friends, the company gradually grew by offering PickYourFive and other opinion-polling applications. LivingSocial also appeals to affluent women who tend to plan entertainment, travel and dining for their families.
LivingSocial is well-positioned to challenge tour operators, event planners, travel agencies and booking websites. Headquartered in the Washington, D.
The company tries harder to reach an accommodation than Groupon, which still presents more static options for restaurants. The process of advertising a deal works like this:. That means you have to provide the cost of the voucher, even though you split the cost with LivingSocial.
If the customer redeems the offer before the expiration date, you must provide food or services valued at about four times the amount that you receive from LivingSocial.
That can run into some serious issues unless you manage your offers carefully, do the math and offer discounts on slow-moving or high-profit items. LivingSocial appeals to technologically savvy women who often determine where their families will dine. Analytical targeting is important if you want to earn a return from any kind of discount promotion.
Like Groupon, LivingSocial promotes steeply-discounted daily deals at local businesses. We did have some problems with LivingSocial, however. Read on for our full report If you are a business owner thinking about doing a deal on LivingSocial or Groupon , the key to success is to know what you are getting into. In our case, we could afford to lose money on each LivingSocial customer, in exchange for getting one new person in our store.
We did the math and figured it would be worthwhile, assuming there is a limit of one voucher per person, period. We agreed on a contract that stipulated "limit one per person". What ended up happening, is LivingSocial let people buy as many vouchers as they wanted to, whether they were gifts or not. We ended up selling over vouchers, but to only people. Some of these have turned out to be gifts, but a majority were people stocking up on an awesome deal. Because LivingSocial did not enforce the one-per-person rule, we ended up paying a lot more, for fewer actual customers.
The problem here is that our contract with living social says this "Limit 1 per person, additional as gifts. This is good for their sales, they take a major percentage of the deal, but it is bad for the business as they lose money multiple times for a single customer. The two images here show, on LivingSocial's own reports, multiple vouchers purchased by one person, and also multiple gifts going to one person.
Both of these issues were very common. What Happened to one per person? LivingSocial Problems 2. This is conservative; our incremental payroll expenses will probably be higher. When you sign up for LivingSocial or Groupon , it seems like you can do some math, based on the agreed contract, and know what to expect.
What we like least about this situation Some customers were polite, saying "my bad". LivingSocial's Response We've emailed LivingSocial multiple times with our concerns, politely asking for one of two concessions to be made either offer some refunds or pay us our difference in losses. We gave them over a week to respond and they declined to make amends. Now we feel comfortable posting this for public knowledge. Comments, Press Inquiries?
You can contact us privately or log in and leave a comment on this page. Originally published Jan 20, My client suffered an identical problem with Groupon and nearly destroyed her health business.
She was working literally 18 hours a day, 7 days a week just to fulfils the demands of customers, who were just out for deal. She never received any new fresh clients on board. Now, I hope your blog can help me out here. I'm looking to set up my deals type site in UK.
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