{"id":1150,"date":"2011-02-26T21:49:09","date_gmt":"2011-02-26T11:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.razchorev.com\/?p=1150"},"modified":"2011-02-26T21:49:09","modified_gmt":"2011-02-26T11:49:09","slug":"why-should-i-use-group-buying-websites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.razchorev.com\/newme\/why-should-i-use-group-buying-websites\/","title":{"rendered":"Why should I use Group Buying websites."},"content":{"rendered":"

November 2008, Andrew Mason started Groupon<\/a> in Chicago, the first group buying (later known as Social Coupons) convincing his former employer at the time, this is a great business idea. Mr Mason made such a great presentation, enough to raise $1M in seed money, to get going. Last year, Groupon has been reported to be the fastest growing company EVER, reporting over $1Bn in valuation (let me repeat that \u2013 1 BILLION DOLLARS in valuation, after 2 years in operation), representation in 150 countries around the world, turning down a $6Bn offer from Google, and preparing to a $15Bn IPO sometime this year.<\/p>\n

Andrew Mason didn\u2019t invent anything new: The power of group buying, to get a substantial discount isn\u2019t new concept. It\u2019s been going on forever.\u00a0 Mr. Mason has only taken the concept, and built an online platform, to facilitate the concept online.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One thing is for sure: there is a great demand from consumers, which is evident that even at the peak of the GFC (Global Financial Crisis) people were still looking to explore their local area, go out and enjoy life.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 People always will take advantage of a great value offer.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Most businesses can really use a few more customers coming through their doors.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The old ways of advertising are less and less effective, so business owners are looking to get exposure (i.e. advertise) but less willing to take the risk up front. What do I mean by that? The appealing Groupon concept is that the advertising is performance-based exercise. No sale \u2013 no money. I\u2019ll explain how this is working, later on.<\/p>\n

To understand this phenomenon, and how BIG this is getting, let just say there are hundreds<\/strong> of these sites sprouting like mushrooms after the rain, all over the world. Groupon, as the first to market and biggest player, is now boasting over 35 million members worldwide*, and growing. The first one to grab the Australian market is Ouffer.com<\/a>, which started in February 2010, by two American guys, Josh David and Anton Bernstein. Groupon have saved consumers over $1.2Bn worldwide, according to their website, selling nearly 30,000,000 deals! In Australia alone, Ouffer.com has saved consumers nearly $10,000,000 in under a year!<\/p>\n

Many people saw the huge potential of the Group Buying market, and clones popped up everywhere. They are (of course!) all different, and have their own POD (Point Of Difference), such as their pricing structure (how much commission they get from the offers), their reach (how many subscribers they have), and some even will go the extra mile, and will distribute brochures around the business area (hard copies! On paper!), or advertise their deals\/offers on TV and radio). There are pros and cons, when considering the integration of the old media (print, radio and TV) with the new, but this is not for this discussion.<\/p>\n

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Types of businesses benefiting from these services:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let me start by stressing: this is NOT for every business. <\/strong>To be featured successfully on these sites, a business must be able to give a substantial discount, typically over 50%. This already means that the business has to have enough margin in their offering, not to lose money on the deal.<\/p>\n

So how do I know this is for my business?<\/strong><\/p>\n