It was reported a couple of weeks ago that social buying coupon giant, Groupon, saw a slow down in consumer purchases.
In a recent marketing podcast, panelists cited buyer fatigue, oversaturation, buyer laziness and untargeted deals as possible reasons for the slow down. But I want to offer a slightly different hypothesis – access and service delivery.
Consider the operational challenge a family-run cleaning company faces when, in a matter days, they add 250 new customers.
The fact is that because they are basically giving these services away at cost, they can’t afford to hire new help. And when the dust settles after the excitement of seeing a deal hit the market, poor secretaries and business owners are left to fend off literally hundreds of phone calls while staring at a calendar with no openings.
I have more than once fallen victim to buying a Groupon that I could not redeem at a time convenient for me. So does this make me think twice before purchasing another? Heck yeah.
Companies like Groupon must take a deeper look at their company selection process or at least limit the number of sales to a manageable number.
And I offer this opinion with appreciation that Groupon and Living Social have both exposed me to new companies and experiences I would otherwise never heard of. Hopefully it works out.
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