[This is an excerpt from my new book, Groupon: Why Deep Discounts are Bad for Business]
Why pick on Groupon? That’s because it’s been growing at an exponential rate over the past six months, and expects to end the year with as many as 25 million subscribers and $400 million in gross sales.
Lest you think I don’t understand why business owners are grappling with Groupons, I do. When I was first trying to get business I took out Google pay-per-click ads. Trying to do “something” I went through several thousand dollars in the hopes I’d get people to my site.
They were hitting it alright. And leaving. The expensive truth was my site was terrible.
Until I fixed that experience for my customers, I was wasting my marketing. The same is often true of local businesses and these sites.
In the race to do “something” local business owners often ignore the things that can most affect their success but latch onto the promise of visibility and footsteps.
It has created the….
Perfect Storm
Could Groupon, BuyWithMe, LivingSocia, Bloomspot, HomeRun or other discount sites have existed five years ago? I don’t think so.
When money’s coming in its all due to us. When it isn’t we look elsewhere. That’s why The Recession has created a perfect storm for all these deal sites.
Here’s why: Continue reading Groupon Review: Local Businesses’ Perfect Storm »
