groupon

[Rockstar_pizza]

So I broke down and finally gave the people at Groupon a meeting. She said the format and structure is completely different and is more catered now to the restaurants. DOES anyone have any experience (ggod or bad) My thought is I may tread lightly and do some sort of lunch target!
Here is HER recommendations!

Here are a few structure suggestions…

$9 for 1 large gourmet pizza ($16.99 value)
$17 for 2 large gourmet pizzas ($33.98 value)

*This structure will build in overspend as customers will pay full-priced revenue for breadsticks, apps, salads, soda, beer, etc.
*60% margin

or…

$15 for (3) $10 vouchers - used on separate visits

-the customer pays $15 and they receive 3 separate $10 vouchers
-the tablet we send you allows you to easily redeem to ensure vouchers are not reused, able to track full priced overspend and search by customer name.

*60% margin
*This structure will also build in high overspend for both the lunch and dinner crowd and bring customers in for multiple visits. Hot Box Pizza has seen a lot of success with this multi-voucher structure driving both lunch and dinner traffic.

I have heard nothing but bad things about the program, ie…terrible customers that try to bend around the structures, lots and lots of water drinkers who just make it to the voucher, not to mention just plain on loosing money to my regular customers

 

[royster13]

On the 3 10.00 vouchers how much do you get?..Would you be better off if a local church, school or sports group sold them on your behalf?..

 

[pizza2007]

Rockstar, with all due respect, you must be DESPERATE to consider Groupon. You might as well take out a pay-day loan, or MERCHANT loan!! Groupon is crap for restaurants! If you want a 50/50 partner, who keeps 50% and has you pay all the overhead from your 50%, then Groupon is for you!

Focus on your product and your core customer market. Groupon is not a market nor a customer, its a 50% off discount. Do you really want to sell your product for 50% off?? Tip, just close your business already and do something else.

Best of luck, but remember, GROUPON is just plain STUPID!

 

[supachicken]

The other thing to consider is that you will never see those customers again unless you offer the same discount. They don’t care about anything but the price. I leave those customers to Dominos here in AUS

 

[d9phoenix]

As the others have stated, i would not touch groupon either. The customers who use groupon will never come back or pay regular price. Thus leaving you with a sale that made you no profits. If you decide to go with a advertising campaign thru groupon i would suggest only doing deals that match your regular coupons.

But again i would suggest not.

 

[tguag]

I love this thread! people keep telling me to do groupons and i always say not a chance in hell! for all the reasons posted above!

 

[perfect_pizzas]

I don’t agree with the opinion that groupon only brings bottom feeders who will never order again. I have bought groupon deals before and have tried restaurants that I had never been to. Two of those restaurants have become favorites that we go to regularly. You will have to deal with some cheapskates and bottom feeders but it may still be worth it for you. Properly priced, you should be able to break even on your AVERAGE groupon ticket. If you do 100 of these deals, and turn 10 or 20 into regular customers, why wouldn’t this be good for your business? The key is to be ready for the business so you give your customers, and your potential new customers, the best product and service you are capable of. If I had a fairly new place, I would consider groupon a viable option. If you have been in business 20 years and 80% of the town has tried you, maybe It’s not a great fit for your business.

 

[Pizza_of_the_Month]

These are all great responses!
I have been in business since 1959 and I would never use groupon. If you are like me and have been around a long time, try fundraisers! They are a great way to increase business. In the last six months we have done 70k in revenue from fundraisers and our weekly sales are up 12% on top of the fundraisers. We have worked with over 40 groups already and each time we do a fundraiser we get more groups that want to do it.

 

[bodegahwy]

Bottom feeding grubbing skin-flint cheap-skates… and they want the free ice cream too. My employees hated the order process that tracked the orders. No way we are going there again.