March 7, 2011
I look forward to the Living Social emails that come to my email mailbox every day. I have bought several of these group deals that have afforded some wonderful meals with my family at an unbeatable price.
The power of Living Social, Groupon, and Mint Daily Double Deals in driving new customers to stores is undeniable. Many of the customers who purchase these deals will bring friends or family with them and/or they will become repeat customers.
Currently, Groupon has over 60 million subscribers and Living Social (backed by Amazon) has about 20 million. According to the Wall Street Journal article To Beat Groupon, Its Competitors Must Go National, Living Social is hiring six new sales people per day to help local merchants structure effective deals and to guide them through the coupon creation process. And now, Google is entering the scene.
If you are a small business you may also consider integrating a group deal on your website using the startagroupbuy.com service. I can do this for you. The benefit is that you can determine the rules and timeline for the group deal. You will have complete control of your deals. Then you can refer to them using your Facebook business page and other social media accounts to drive traffic to it. In no way can it replace the marketing power of a Living Social, but it can be an added enhancement to your website and overall marketing plan given the cultural shift toward group buying.