If you are a retailer you must be mad to sign with Groupon
if you do, while you might shift some stock you are locked into a
Heads, Groupon wins
Tails, Groupon wins
kind of deal.
They are the only winner out of their business model.
Daily deals site Groupon has signed a partnership agreement with Deutsche Telekom to push out coupon deals to mobile users in multiple European countries. Deutsche said its users will have access to Groupon’s mobile services without having to download a separate app. The roll-out is scheduled to start in the first half of this …
"Tying in directly with a mobile carrier could be a smart play for Groupon, as it will potentially get a lot more random traffic if it doesn't have to persuade people to sign up for information on its deals."
Am I to infer from this that DT will be spamming its customers with Groupon ads, presumably defending the act on the grounds that they already have a commercial relationship with their customers so its OK to send unsolicited (and unrelated) crap?
I hope this doesn't set any precendents. I find SMS spam rather more intrusive than email flavour.
German data protection legislation will prevent such spamming - explicit consent is required - but will allow them to send SMS to customers inviting to sign up to the service. Though in Germany a tie-in with the Payback system would probably make more sense as Oyster would in the UK. More than enough morons prepared to sign up to such data guzzlers in the hope of some modest discount.
Does anyone still actually use Groupon? I know of one person who, like a good compulsive coupon collector, spends a load more money and time on all the discounts that they don't need.
LBS & deep understanding of a customer's preferences and disposable income is the way forward. Amazon is probably best placed to benefit from this with the Kindle series. Probably initially only on the tat it knows customers will buy from it, but in the future it will dispose of the low-margin warehouse and logistics business and co-operate with retailers - "have a customer who smokes (Marlboro) and drinks (Stella) a lot close to your shop, want to make them an offer?"