Maybe you’ve heard of Groupon by now. Forbes called it the fastest growing company ever. And even a single car electronics store can use its service to help get customers.
Groupon, does what its name implies—creates a group coupon. You post an item at a great price online and if enough consumers sign up to buy it, they all get it at that price. It creates an auction- like urgency to take advantage of your sale because a minimum number of consumers must sign up for the deal to go through.
Alarms, Etc of Tampa, Florida with 3 stores is running its second promotion with the service. The first one was on a Scosche FM modulator iPod kit. Alarms, Etc. offered 25 units at half price. The chain’s Joe Cassity said customers came in the door for weeks afterward saying they heard about the store from Groupon. The store’s first promotion generated an estimated $2,000 in plus business.
Now Cassity is promoting Llumar window tinting for $90 (during the off season for window tinting).
Your store probably won’t make money on the product itself sold on Groupon, but it should get a boost in traffic and exposure.
Cassity says the industry is dogged by the fact that consumers don’t trust our types of stores, but Groupon, a reputable company, gives your store credibility. “It also helps us reach outside our typical demographic.”
“You spend money to advertise with the phone book and hope it reaches people and makes the phone ring. Instead with Groupon, we offset advertising dollars in the form of a discount and KNOW that the phone will ring”, says Cassity, in a press release.
“Advertising and stepping outside of the box is KEY to our industry’s success and I’m happy to assist any other retailer in doing the same thing. Improving the customers’ overall perception of the stereo shops of yester-year versus what we have to offer today is paramount to ensure the continued prosperity of our industry.”
Source: Alarms, Etc., Forbes
Wayne is right, but thats if your using the service to try and move boxes………..
That’s not the MOST EFFECTIVE way to leverage a company like groupon. The real key is in MARKETING your brand, name, ETC. We traditionally pay for marketing, so in this case think of it as ‘trading product’ for marketing. As we can appreciate a DRAMATIC increase in sales and revenue.
For this example. We anticipate to bring in an additional $3200 in REVENUE after expenses.
It’s not about ‘moving boxes’, its about creating a positive image for your company in the local community.
And as an industry, if we goto our vendors and let them know the SPECIFICS of the deal, they will often times shoulder some of the burden of this MARKETING EXPENSE (not product discounting) in the form of up front DFI and/or coop dollars (as Llumar did for us on this one, as well as Scosche did on the previous one).
Bottom line is, even if the ‘groupon math’ doesn’t work for you………..MARKET YOURSELF VIA WHATEVER MEANS NECESSARY! Empty bays COST you money! And by marketing yourself effectively today, you’ll be better positioned to capitalize on the opportunities in the future!
Thanxs Amy for the story and RETAILERS, please no matter what method, just get out there and DRIVE TRAFFIC BACK INTO OUR STORES. Remind our customers, ‘we’re still here’!
Groupon encourages their ‘partners’ to offer half-off services. Of this half price Groupon then keeps half. You better be offering something with a ludicrous profit margin or a high uptake on accessories if you want to make any money.