Social Shopping = Groupon? Nope, this is only the beginning.

    Some time ago my wife Nicole posted a small series of blogs about the topic of Loyalty on ciber.com. In these readable blogs she identified and summarised three main strategies of acquiring loyal customers, which are

  • Every day low price
  • Classic loyalty programs that base upon cash-back options or that are points based
  • Hybrid models

To advantage and preserve loyal customers it's far essential for Retailers (or brands, or ?) to get right into a mutual engagement with the customers. In order to gain this it wishes something like a WOW!-component. An vital way to get this issue for Retailers is the use of social media (or social CRM while being more superior).

Every day low charge of course way plain ole charge competition. No WOW!-thing in anyway worried here. On pinnacle of that there may be handiest one competitor that actually has the lowest charge. All the others bypass in from second region onwards. Given that, opposition simplest on fee is the surefire way to a Retailer?S loss of lifestyles if the Retailer is not the one with the lowest charge. Price opposition kills margin, service degrees, buying enjoy, capability to build up and examine greater facts on customers, as it needs an investment, which desires to be paid out of decreasing margins. Every day low fee works well for enormously commoditized products and services, else it's miles risky. Customers will no longer see the real fee of a high-quality or carrier anymore but ask/search for a discount. It is highly hard to change this conduct as quickly as it suggests up ? And we purchasers are already educated about the reality that the same product can come less high-priced, so why pay the whole rate?

How do Groupon or other, much less stated similar carriers (like steals4all.Com, an aggregator on Groupon, or 1-day.Co.Nz, to call but a few) healthy into this ? At severa levels?

Well, Groupon basically provides some WOW!-element to price competition through adding a network feeling and a few lottery surroundings. But basically Groupon is prepared low charges, which extensively opens the road in the direction of fee opposition, with all its dangers.

Having stated that, Groupon has hit a nerve, as growing consumer numbers and hovering valuation show. There is a call for. Still it needs for use accurately and as part of a far wider social technique, or ideally by using Retailers who observe low charge strategies ? With the caveat that Groupon, being a enterprise, takes a further part of the ultimate margin for itself, of course.

Leading Retailers who want to take actual advantage of social environments (not social media, not social CRM) receives similarly. These Retailers will offer added price to their customers, be it thru a everyday customer enjoy within the unique channels, ease of use, solutions to worrying conditions that I, as a customer usually have, co-creating it with their customers and so on.

These Retailers may also efficaciously combine their social media endeavours with their conventional CRM approach and implementation, as a way to investigate and be capable of act at the mastering, to their clients benefits, that's the closing manner to the Retailers? Nirvana.

Mark Tamis, I and others have blogged approximately this earlier than, so there can be no actual want to duplicate possible fee which includes situations, but probable heaps scope to research taking extra gain of value such as and possibly co-introduction (I want to thank @grahamhill for an amazing dialogue and links to this topic, which I nevertheless need to digest). Groupon and its likes are by far not the end of the street ? Simply quality the beginning.

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