Five big ideas about discounting
Q: Why have there been so many cataclysmic stories over the past year about discounts-gone-haywire?
A: Because too many people had no idea what they were doing.
Marketers are almost guaranteed to get discounting campaigns wrong if they don’t understand a few underlying strategic concepts about what a discount is – and isn’t. Aiming to forestall any repetition of this maladaptive behavior, Econsultancy is pleased to share a few points from our latest Smart Pack, The Fundamentals of Digital Discounting.
Is mobile the future of discounts?
Businesses may be tiring of services like Groupon, and overaggressive retailers may have bargained themselves into a less profitable holiday shopping season, but one thing is for sure: consumers love discounts.
Who can blame them? The global economy nearly collapsed in 2008, and it's been tough since then. Companies eager to separate consumers from their hard-earned dollars have often had little choice but to lure customers in with prices too hard to pass up.
Beauty companies embrace social, but love traditional channels too
Is the future of marketing social? Few today would argue that social media marketing is going away any time soon, and the most bullish suggest that social is going to increasingly displace traditional marketing spend.
But are the bulls right? If a new study is any indication, not exactly.
Discounts and loyalty: a bad match?
Quick: what are some of the best way to acquire loyal customers? If you look around online, you might draw the conclusion that providing discounts makes the list.
Billions upon billions of dollars worth of coupons are distributed by brands each year, and increasingly couponing is moving to the web, where bargain-loving consumers have more power than ever to seek out the very best deals available.
Should your order form include a coupon code field?
If you've ever purchased something online, you've probably come across an almost ubiquitous feature on many order forms: the coupon code field.
Online sellers, of course, use coupon codes in an effort to boost sales, increase AOVs and reward loyal customers. But according to web consultant Rachel Baker, these innocuous fields may be doing more harm than good.
Is real-time the future of group buying?
Thanks to companies like Groupon and LivingSocial, group buying has rapidly grown into a multi-billion dollar market in just a few short years.
The reason: group buying offers both consumers and businesses a deal that's too good to pass up. For consumers, there are steep, limited-time-only discounts on products and services. For businesses, there's the promise of a flood of new customers.
Why people are friending your brand on Facebook
Startups like Klout may have a hard time convincing brands they can prove how influential social media followers are. But dozens of studies
aim to figure out why consumers are mentioning, following, or
friending brands via social media.
The latest is from Empathica, which surveyed over 15,000 Americans and Canadians, to deliver its take on who's following brands and why.
Old Spice's viral video success is no match for free product giveaways
Old Spice's popular viral videos have been winning the company accolades all summer — including an Emmy nod this week. Now it looks as if something a little more powerful contributed to the company's strong sales figures this year: coupon offers.
As soon as Old Spice stopped offering coupons for the products touted in the viral "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" ads, the company's sales bounce disappeared. If Wieden + Kennedy's lauded creative can't move product, the campaign could serve as a warning to those seeking viral video glory online.
Why multichannel retailers should use coupons
There has been plenty of talk about the benefits of coupons for online retailers, but a recent study underlines the benefits of coupons for offline and multichannel retailers.
The Compete survey finds that only around a third of coupons are redeemed online, so they offer a way to drive offline as well as online sales.
Q&A: Groupon's Andrew Mason
Groupon is a group-based social e-commerce buying service that launched last year. While many retailers are struggling to survive in this economy, Groupon has seen exponential growth.
With $4.8 million in funding from New Enterprise Associates and $1 million from an angel investor, Groupon reached profitability in June.
The company offers daily deals on a variety of services offered from different retailers. Groupon. The savings are group focused — if enough people sign up for an offer, everyone gets the deal. If there aren’t enough people, no one gets it. Groupon collects payment and passes it on, minus their fee, to the business.
Today the company announced $30 million in series B funding that included new investor Accel Partners. I caught up with Andrew Mason, Groupon's founder, to talk about what sets his company apart from traditional coupon sites, how the company came about and what's up next at Groupon.
