[Closed] Has anyone tried marketing their business with Groupon?

With the volume of marketing mail they send they border on spam. So much every day that we block their mail in work.

Just be careful about what you offer and how many deals you are selling.

You only end up with around 20-25% of the retail price (they need proof so this can't be artificially inflated)
so offering too many of a particular deal could bankrupt you before you start.

I signed up and was looking for some specific things - last minute ski and canvas photo prints. Most of the deals were either for crap or not cheap. Unsubscribed as they were close to spam in the end.

Have heard lots of bad stuff on the radio mainly about people saying that Groupon have put them out of business rather than improved things for them.Be very careful it appears not to be as good as it seems.

Has worked extremely well for my wife's business. Basically, they use Groupon to sell the base product ([s]not far above cost[/s] priced to break even) and then make money on the extras people buy.

What kind of business are you setting up?

Thanks everyone.

My business is going to be a fairly niche photography business but whilst that is growing I'm going to sell my soul and advertise for some more mainstream photography work.

I have a friend who appears to have done rather well from Groupon marketing. He as managed to sell extras on the day that have boosted profit to an acceptable level as well as building quite a client base to sell to in the future.

Could I ask what your wife's business s Markie?

BB

Have heard lots of bad stuff on the radio [b]mainly about people saying that Groupon have put them out of business rather than improved things for them[/b].Be very careful it appears not to be as good as it seems.

That's balls.

"groupon" doesn't put anyone out of business, they do that to themselves.

You submit all the details of the deal to Groupon, and they display it for you.

If people are not business minded enough to make sure they can offer those deals without making a loss, or bankrupting themselves completely, then they have nobody to blame but themselves.

Groupon is not responsible for anything other than displaying the Advert you submit, and taking the payment that you request for the product/service offered.

The contract of hers that Groupons is a wedding / events venue. Basically, in the slower parts of the year they set up a Groupon (is that what you say?) selling a base wedding service at cost. Even if no extras were bought, this would keep everything ticking over, but in fact it means this contract turns a profit even during the low season as people do buy extras.

Asking my wife about just now (and typing as fast as I can to keep up with her thoughts!)

They want their significant percentage, but they're clear about it. You need to build a good relationship with your local Groupon person, so that your ad doesn't go out at the same time or just after or before those of competitors. Book your slot well in advance. The key is doing your costings and knowing what you're getting into. If you're pricing it to break even, ensure that you will break even on the pricing. Make sure your sales team are set up to push extras, to drive the profit.

If you have any more specific questions or want clarification, just ask!

I've been considering this idea as well (also for a photography business). My concern would be that by going with Groupon you might get lots of business but what kind of business will it be?

I just wonder if the kind of people who want 'cheap' and are buying pretty much on price alone are the kind of people I want to be aiming at. 🙂

Neal G - that's pretty much what I have thought when I have heard people being interviewed/comlaining about Groupon. A local garage offered car servicing at £35 for a full service. He sold hundreds and could not honour all the vouchers within the time frame. He then went on local radio saying Groupon had nearly put him out of business as he was working at a loss on the deals and having to turn away full price customers as he was too busy! Madness.

Markie/Mrs Markie - thank you very much for that, I really do appreciate it. I shall put some costings together and make contact with our Groupon rep. i might email you in the future if anything else comes up and you do not mind?

BB

Grum - I hear what you are saying but for me it will just be too fill in the quiet periods as I am building the niche side of the business. As I am about to launch I reckon I have enough clients to run at about 50% capacity. I'm not great at sitting around not doing much so thought I could use Groupon clients to fill the gaps.

Good luck to you if you decide to go for it!

BB

A local garage offered car servicing at £35 for a full service. He sold hundreds and could not honour all the vouchers within the time frame. He then went on local radio saying Groupon had nearly put him out of business as he was working at a loss on the deals and having to turn away full price customers as he was too busy! Madness.

Exactly my point. The guy is basically an idiot !?

How did he think he was going to make any money offering a full service for £35 - of which he would receive a Maximum of £17.50 after the fees.

And if he was just scouting for new customers to cultivate repeat business, then he needed to treat it as a loss leader, and only offer a low number of deals that would fill in his quiet times so he wasn't turning away full paying customers.

These people moaning that "Groupon put me out business" are just incapable of working this stuff out for themselves, and want someone else to blame for their own stupid mistakes. .

Markie/Mrs Markie - thank you very much for that, I really do appreciate it. I shall put some costings together and make contact with our Groupon rep. i might email you in the future if anything else comes up and you do not mind?

No problem, glad we could help. Feel free to email, mine in my profile.

We (kent ballooning dot com) used TravelZoo and Living Social and I would never use another 'Deal Website' again.

TOP TIPS!!!
1: You can haggle with them more than you might think regarding the % they take... Don't get pushed around and if you don't like the feel of it, walk away, there are loads of other companies to deal with.
2: Don't assume the customers will take advantage of any upselling. We were told that we'd get top quality customers that will all buy extras and very few did. Basically plan for the worse case scenario and then if your business model can cope with it choose your deal (and deal company) wisely to take advantage of the database you're tapping in to.
3: Refunds/haggling over T&C/expecting the Earth/just unpleasant people, are all to be expected when we get a phonecall from a certain deal company customer. They seem to be buying discounts not the products, if that makes sense.
4: Cap the amount you sell... If your offer is fantastic you may be inundated with too much business.
5: Take everything that the rep says with a pinch of salt. If he tells you that 50% will be repeat customers, expect no more than 5%.
6: Ask yourself if you could just do the deal yourself and take the Deal Websites cut and use that yourself for advertising/promotion.

Get in touch if you want a chat about it - my wife has dealt with the companies and customers and would be happy to chat...

3: Refunds/haggling over T&C/expecting the Earth/just unpleasant people, are all to be expected when we get a phonecall from a certain deal company customer. They seem to be buying discounts not the products, if that makes sense.

This was exactly my concern.

Good luck to you if you decide to go for it!

Cheers, you too! 🙂

If you are unsure still, give us a call - number is on our website...