Group buying sites are not something new in the online environment; you sign up for a free daily email and receive different discounted offers from local businesses promoting their products through this type of websites. Sometimes the discounts reach crazy amounts like “80% off” so this is usually a best deal indeed. The discounted products range from laser hair removal to clothes, food and so on and one of the major players in this field is the well-known Groupon.
Groupon is believed to be the fastest growing company ever, reaching over 5 million users in United Kingdom only and tens of millions worldwide. Groupon features different discounted offers, the users enter their payment details and once the minimum accepted number of people have signed up for that deal you receive the voucher by email.
As simple as it may sound, Groupon had some problems in the past when The Advertising Standards Authority banned some misleading adverts, however Groupon officials claim they are closely working with the ASA in order to stay under their guidelines in the future. Other problems are related to customers having problems redeeming their discounts, but as in any business there are negative voices and positive ones as well, just that the first ones tend to have a longer echo in the online environment.
Groupon is not the only website in this niche though, names like LivingSocial or Groupola being among its top competitors and lately it seems that Google and Facebook figured out they could fit great in this business and claim a piece of the profits for themselves. But competition is nothing but good for customers therefore larger discounts are to be expected in the future from sites in this business.
Although small businesses entering partnerships with the group buying websites must definitely cut their prices for being accepted, it seems it really worth while they can address to a new group of customers, customers that once satisfied by a service/product can definitely come back for more and thus increasing a certain business’ sales.