Voucher Sites

Hey,

Soo recently I have been sllllightly addicted to Groupon....
If you're not aware Groupon is a site which users can register in order to receive discounts on products and services in their local area. You receive an email every day (I think) with offers and can purchase the vouchers straight from the email. I get three- one each for Portsmouth, Bristol and Manchester!

They have ridiculous discounts off days out, beauty and hair treatments, gifts and holidays. Obviously the site is great for consumers as they can get vouchers for up to 80% of the recommended retail value. In order for the coupon to be “active” a minimum number of people must purchase the coupon, which means that if enough people don't sign up to buy it- no one gets the offer.

Retailers, restaurants and beauty salons set up the offer with groupon, whilst they provide the marketing, client base and sales. Clearly this provides them with exposure, awareness from their target audience and new customers.

But how beneficial is the use of groupon for businesses??

Groupon splits each voucher sale 50/50 with the provider of the service, so for a haircut which might have a retail value of £40, sold on groupon for £15- the retailer receives £7.50. I doubt this covers their costs, so it is a risk to take in order to market yourself.

I would be interested to discover how many of the groupon voucher buyers actually return to the retailers and pay full price at a later date for the same service they received at an 80% discount....
To be honest I doubt that the kind of consumer that Groupon attracts is the type to want to pay full price.Often, the vouchers offered are similar week-in week-out from highlights and a hair cut to super car experiences, therefore when I'm using Groupon I would rather wait a few weeks for the voucher I want to be posted rather than pay full price at a salon I may have visited previously.

I suspect many consumers or 'bargain hunters' may use the same tactic, therefore I question whether groupon can provide a positive return on investment for companies. However, it could suit companies that have low variable costs of goods sold e.g. events, museums, spas, etc – where adding one additional customer does not add a high cost for the business.

I would be interested to see the ROI from companies which have used Groupon and other similar voucher sites in order to promote their services. I might be pleasantly surprised......

Just my thoughts,
Steph

New placement & Fitness First

Helloo!!

Ok so I am a few weeks into my placement at IBM! So far I have been settling in and getting to know the organisation, learning tools & procedures etc. I am working in C-suite which means my team directly targets CEO’s, CFO’s, CIO’s, CHRO’s etc. so basically all the top companies with boards of directors!! Which means I am going to meet some amazing people this year!

My team mainly use events, digital & telemarketing and social media marketing so I am going to get to use lots of different channels this year which is exactly what I wanted to do so very happy with my position!

Last week I went up to the London office in South Bank which was such a cool experience as I got to sit in on a meeting between IBM and a B2B marketing agency to discuss a campaign we are executing with them. I found it really interesting and it was probably the best bit of the placement so far! The London office is where all IBM’s sales are made so the office is really swish and some really important people sit up there!

I’m going to get to help run events and run through from organisation to execution which is very exciting!!

So overall enjoying it! Will keep you posted on what else I get up to!

So as I’ve just moved to Portsmouth, I had to find a new gym to join which meant going on a gym hunt! I did want to join David Lloyd but I would have to drive there and I don’t have a car so I did some research and went to view a few!

I had had a negative perception of Fitness First in the past as when I had wanted to join the Preston club a few years ago they did nothing but bombard me with calls and emails which really put me off as I don’t like a hard sell.

But there is a Fitness First really near to where I’m living at the moment so I decided to check it out.

The staff were friendly and we had a tour of the gym and I noticed there were soooo many men and barely any women! This really put me off as I can find really hench men working out to be a bit intimidating, especially when I’m sweating on the cross trainer or struggling to do kettlebell squats!

Whilst making my decision on the gym I had a look at the class list as I was told by the gym instructor/receptionist/salesman that there was “over 50 classes a week” yet I couldn’t see my favourites on there like kettlebells, aerobics or total toning (basically the girlie classes) yet there was body pump, boxercise and circuits… all of which I enjoy but I felt the gym was very male orientated and they weren’t really trying to attract women like me.

This almost put me off as despite the fact I was being heavily sold to, I felt as though I didn’t fit in at the gym and as though I wasn’t welcomed. I explained the fact I felt slightly intimidated to the salesman and he explained “I had come at the wrong time and there wasn’t usually this many men at one time” and he proceeded to offer me 2 months free, personal training sessions and a sunbed course if I signed up “that day and that day only” which I knew was a total lie as I could guarantee he would offer me the same deal if I had gone in the next day.

Obviously in a service organisation i.e. a gym, the people (staff, instructors etc.) play a huge contributing factor and I found the staff to be very friendly and that they would be supportive within my gym experience and if I had any problems. I also found the ‘Physical Evidence’ aspect of the 7 P’s (the equipment and premises) really nice so I decided to have a think about it and ultimately decided to join.

I do really enjoy going to the gym now I have been going for a few weeks and am even enjoying the more ‘masculine’ classes. However, what I am trying to get across is that, by not providing a wide range of classes/experiences targeted towards females (I know I am being slightly stereotypical), especially women who may be far less confident than me or that haven’t really been to the gym before, I could see this really putting them off.

I think that Fitness First should take a more open approach to their marketing and realise they may be missing an entire market in people who aren’t categorically ‘gym freaks’ and that they have the services & product available, they just need to change their unifying themes & messages amongst their marketing to capture the rest of us……

Maybe they don’t want to? What are your thoughts?

Opinions are entirely my own- Steph