Here’s a no-cost way to get more feet in the door.
Alarms, Etc. launched a promotion with Groupon on Monday that offers a steep discount on an iPod kit ONLY if a certain number of customers buy the item.
The Tampa, FL-based store put up an installed Scosche iPod kit (FMMOD02) on the Groupon/Tampa web site, offered at a 50 percent discount or $60. The deal runs 4 days through Thursday and Alarms Etc. has already met its minimum by getting 11 orders. The store’s website traffic has quadrupled since Monday and the phone is ringing off the hook, said owner Joe Cassity. He expects to sell 25 or 30 by the end of the deal and to make money while he’s basically won free advertising and exposure at no charge. (Alarms Etc. also worked out a special deal with Scosche beforehand on the FM modular kit offered).
“We’re not trying to make a profit on the ticket, even if we just break even, one more customer walking in our door holds a lot of value,” Cassity said. Plus he’s moving beyond the 18-24 year-old male demographic by positioning the 3-store Alarms Etc. as an iPod integration specialist. “So we’re reaching a different demographic,” he said.
Groupon’s strength is it permits consumers to join up to get a group discount on a product or service offered locally. The customer knows the deal only goes through if enough people sign up to meet the retailer’s minimum.
“We contacted [Groupon] after reading about their website and its effects on merchants business levels featured in an American Express Blog….. I wasn’t sure if Groupon would be a good fit for our business until I started subscribing to their newsletter myself and saw some merchants selling as much as $10,000 dollars in gift cards within a 24-hour period. After that I said, WOW what do we have to do to gain that kind of exposure,” said Cassity.
Stores in each market are permitted to run one promo every 60 days on Groupon, Cassity said.
Read about Groupon in TechCrunch and The New York Times
Source: Alarms, Etc.
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