Everyone knows about Group and the Gap and LivingSocial and the Amazon Gift Card. Historically group buying has been about local services, but we may see a lot more retail in the future. I encountered the following deal over the weekend and found it interesting for a number of reasons:
The form of the deal “$X for $Y value” is increasingly common and it allows for more flexibility than X% off a specific service. However what’s interesting to me about this ad is that it’s essentially a sale notification in different form.
Retailers large and small use TV, direct mail, email, newspapers and online display to notify consumers of sales. This is something similar but in the form of a daily deal.
This local furniture retailer is trying to lure customers into the store with a $75 off discount. Because there’s no cash value the purchase price of any item will need to exceed $100; on furniture that’s not much of a stretch. And some number of the more than 1,000 who bought the deal will show up and buy other stuff when the get in there. This isn’t necessarily about repeat business or lifetime value it’s about selling inventory. However some number of new customers will undoubtedly come back.
This ad was probably a lot more effective the typical “30% to 50% off sale” awareness advertising that retailers typically do. It’s also completely trackable: closed loop.
Most of the people who bought this deal will in fact show up.
January 24th, 2011 at 6:11 pm
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