Despite Groupon’s recent woes on the stock market, new research shows that consumers are still drawn to discount voucher deals.
A survey of 1,000 consumers by affiliate network LinkShare found that 56% of people would buy from an unfamiliar brand if offered the right deal at the right time.
A further 41% said they have purchased something online they would never previously thought of buying because of a voucher or offer.
This is good news for voucher sites like LivingSocial, but the demand for discount deals has also led to some high profile PR disasters. For example, Need a Cake in Reading lost £12,000 after being overwhelmed with orders from a Groupon offer.
The popularity of vouchers also hasn't done much for Groupon's performance on the stock market, with 35% knocked off its share price this week.
The voucher website raised $700m from its IPO on November 4 and the share price quickly shot up to around $26 from a launch price of $20, but when the markets closed for Thanksgiving on Wednesday the share price had fallen to $16.96.
How the share price fairs long term will make interesting viewing for another web giant that is rumoured to be gearing up for an IPO in 2012.
Reader comments (4)
11:46AM on 25th November 2011
This report does nothing to dispel the real issue with Groupon and similar sites which is majority of businesses use them in the hope of broadening its customer base and for long term gains. This rarely happens.
The recent PR disasters further highlight how blind business are when putting forward these deals.
These views are strictly my own personal views and not that of my company
Senior reporter at Econsultancy
12:27PM on 25th November 2011
Personally I agree with you Ed - businesses need to carefully weigh up the pros and cons of these voucher deals as too often it seems to go pear shaped.
It would be interesting to see some stats around how much, if any, repeat business you get off the back of a voucher deal
3:51PM on 25th November 2011
As Ed rightly said, it's one thing for consumers to want Groupon type sites, but right now their business customers aren't really doing well out of them.
I'm skeptical about whether Groupon will ever be able to satisfy both business and consumer needs, but there would appear to be a market there for anyone that can.
9:32PM on 5th June 2012
That is good to hear, because I love the concept and it seems like everyone else does too...with their IPO so huge and all...and I am just worried about how the stock has been doing recently. I'm confident they will pull through though.
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