- The deal industry is evolving from group buying deals to focusing on selling products directly as merchants and customers lose interest in group deals. Companies are finding success targeting specific customer segments and focusing all their efforts on serving those customers well.
- Customer retention is key for both deal sites and merchants. Traditional deal sites did not help merchants retain customers, causing merchants to turn away later on. Deal strategies now need plans to help merchants retain profitable customers long-term.
- Deal sites are shifting from a "push" model that floods customers with deals to a "pull" model where customers search for deals when needed, as the push model depleted due to factors like mail filters.
Value Proposition canvas- Customer needs and pains
Future of Daily Deal Industry
1. Quick Guide on Deal Industry
FUTURE OF DEAL INDUSTRY
Huge opportunities in the deal industry have been attracting a lot of
players; this has given rise to several innovative methods to stay ahead in
the game. Being in the industry from its inception, we have witnessed
what leads to the rise and fall of players.The objective of this guide is to
keep you updated and give a brief guidance about the industry which will
help you succeed.
TM
2. Group Buying Giving Way to Product
Deal Sites
All leading players, including Groupon, is shifting its focus from group
buying to product deals due to the diminishing demand of these
deals among merchants and customers. These sites have identified
growth as e-commerce companies, which sell products at a
discounted price.
Focusing on a group of customers helps
Companies like Zulily, Fab and so on has already proven that focusing all
your efforts in a particular customer segment will help you know and serve
that segment a lot better than others. Being focused will earn you loyal
customers and increase repeated sales and with a little bit of creativity,
loyalty programs and so on, you can increase the cost to enter your market.
Customer retention is the key
Customer retention is vital for the deal sites and merchants alike,
research says that 58% of the merchants run deals to earn more
customers, but once they earn customers can you site help to retain
them? Traditional deal sites never did so, which resulted in merchants
turning away from deal sites later on. The strategies formulated by
deal sites should also include plans to help merchants retain good
customers else they will end up having a group of bounty hunters as
customers who are never loyal and profitable to maintain.
Change from 'Push to Pull' business model
Earlier the deal provider’s strategy was to flood customers with deals they
might like to avail through mails and other sources, this business model is
depleting due to several reasons like mail filters, customers losing interest
and abandoning deals after purchasing them and so on. The companies
are now applying the "Pull" business model in which the companies want
customers to search for deals when they are in need to purchase a product
or service.
How deal Industry is evolving
3. It’s not just commerce, its engagement
through entertainment
Researches prove that majority of the subscribers visits the site for learning
about new products. The websites have now become a new place for
window shopping, so fill the site with exciting new products and services
that will entertain your customers and thereby increase their engagement
which will tempt them to check your site and messages more often.
Speed matters
When you are in an industry where every one wants to capitalize on the
new opportunities, how fast you can implement becomes a big concern.
The strategies you formulate, business models and the technology you
use should be flexible enough to provide you the freedom to implement
any change in the fastest way possible.
Know the deals you are selling
Groupon once sold deals for a medical test without knowing the fact
that it is not applicable for all the users. Some of the subscribers who
didn’t qualify for the test went to the lab just to know that they can’t
have that test.These kind of circumstances will not just earn you bad
customer reviews but also reputation of being a money making
machine turning things worse in the long run.
?
Personalize
Personalization is quickly becoming the USP of certain industry leaders.
Customersnolongerwanttofindproductsbythemselves;theyare expecting
the website to show them products that they want and sometime even
surprise them. With quality analytics and personalization tools, you can
increase customer engagement and encourage repeat visits.
Channel Strategy
98 % of deal subscribers own a mobile phone and 68% of subscribers
are influenced by social media for buying a deal. These figures imply
the need to have a mobile and social media strategy as part of your
overall channel strategy. Mobile apps and social media solutions are
largely becoming an inevitable part of a deal sites success.
4. How being Omni
channel helps
Statistics on the devices owned by daily deal users (apart
from a computer in 2012) indicates the importance
of being present in multiple devices. Its vital that you
create a delightful experience for your customers in
every interaction using these devices.
*Statistics of devices owned by daily deal users in US.
Courtesy: Edison Research
APPLE IPOD
ANDROID CELL PHONE
APPLE IPHONE
ANDROID TABLET
46%
32%
33%
28%
25%
12%
APPLE IPAD
PORTABLE HAND-HELD BOOK READERS
5. How Omni
Channel Works
Maintaining single customer record
across channels
Having a central customer record will give you a holistic view of
the entire activity of customers through every touch point.
Responsive design
With more and more devices arriving in the market having a design
capable of adapting to various screen sizes is essential.
Innovative POS systems
Provide merchants with POS systems that will help them and
yourself track the effectiveness of deals real-time.
Real-time inventory visibility across
multiple locations
Offering certain deals (like for stock clearance) across multiple channels
and locations will require real-time inventory management to monitor
the whole process and help in decision making.
Content strategy for each channel
Since the behaviour of customers using each channel is different
you will need to have multiple contents strategy for differ devices
to increase customer engagement.
BUY ONLINE
REDEEM IN STORE
MULTI DEVICES &
TOUCH POINT
SOCIAL MEDIA
CRM
POS
MERCHANDISING
SALES TEAM
MANAGEMENT
TM
6. How often do you use
social networking
websites or services
Know your Customers
SEVARAL
TIMES
PER DAY
NEARLY
EVERYDAY
ATLEAST
ONCE A
WEEK
“
“
NEVER USE
SOCIAL
NETWORKING
SITES
LESS THAN
ONCE
PER MONTH
ATLEAST
ONCE PER
MONTH
35%
22%
18%
14%
7%
4%
7. of mobile app downloaders have used
deal websites app and 54% of smartphone
owners claim to use their mobile handsets
frequently while shopping
- Nelson Survey
87%
9. Get Oorjit advantage Disadvantage of traditional
and SaaS deal PlatformsMalleable Framework to dodge challenges
User base building tools
Ecommerce adaptability for product deals
Personalization features to increase customer engagement
Faster deployment
Higher customer retention by creating exit barriers
Increase merchant profitability through Merchant Empowerment Tools
Easy migration from other platforms
launch campaign tools
POS systems*
‘Oorjit Go’for location based deals thereby reducing mail dependency
4 years of Industry expertise
Lack of Industry expertise
Absence of resourceful team to guide through the process
Rigid frameworks which hinder future growth
Slow deployment in case of customization
High switching costs due to absence of migration tools from
other platforms.
Unsatisfied merchants due to less control over the process
Difficulty in implementing product deals
Security and scalability issues with SaaS platforms
*WIP