Anne Howe

Groupon's First National Deal Blows Out

August 23, 2010

FROM RETAILWIRE:
Groupon Inc.'s first nationwide deal -- an offer from the Gap for $50 worth of merchandise at $25 -- sold 445,000 vouchers for the retailer last Thursday, bringing in $11 million in revenue. What do you think of the potential for national deals from daily-deal websites such as Groupon?      [more...]

I would like to think the The Gap has the marketing power and a plan in place to build relationships with consumers who decided to take advantage of the Groupon offer. The shopper engagement opportunity may not be worth $7.5 million loss of revenue initially, but in the long run, if managed well, could be well worth the effort.

I'd certainly be interested in hearing from consumers about the shopping experiences they're having while redeeming the offer. I wonder if they have exit interviewers in place capturing insights, data, and attempting to begin some kind of shopper relationship beyond this offer?

As for Groupon, big splashy national offers is indeed a good way to open new markets for more local offers. I'd rather participate in Groupon to help support customer development for businesses around my local geography. But this effort does prove that online offer broadcasting is a legit form of "reach media" in today's economy.