GrabOne coupon site closing down.

_Brian

Saw this online.
Can't say I'm sorry really. It's a crappy model, constant pressure on business to sell at or below cost price of goods and pay to do so. Spoke to one chap importing stuff who was convinced to put a deal on a similar site after being assured it always drums up business. He lost a packet and said that six months after not one repeat customer.

It sets the expectation that no goods are worth full asking price.

smash

_Brian wrote: »

It sets the expectation that no goods are worth full asking price.

Most aren't.

These smaller sites wont last against groupon anyway.

mattaiuseire

smash wrote: »

Most aren't.

These smaller sites wont last against groupon anyway.

Agreed!!

Ashbx

mattaiuseire wrote: »

Agreed!!

I think Grabone is FAR better than Groupon! The store stuff anyway is most definitely better!

smash

Groupon is good for restaurant deals and it can be good sometimes for products, but only rarely is it cheaper than buying online from distributors. There's also this odd move towards the selling of sex toys. Maybe to some people it just seems more discreet to pay groupon for your vibrating butt plugs than to buy somewhere else.

SteM

Ashbx wrote: »

I think Grabone is FAR better than Groupon! The store stuff anyway is most definitely better!

I always thought their deals seemed better too.

Doesn't really matter that they're gone though. Any business that would have sold through them will now just sell through Groupon or Livingsocial.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

SteM wrote: »

I always thought their deals seemed better too.

Doesn't really matter that they're gone though. Any business that would have sold through them will now just sell through Groupon or Livingsocial.

Ditto. Used GrabOne many times without issue. Sad to see them go.

smash

Here's an amazing deal I found on groupon last week...

delahuntv

These sites were a fad and a sign of the times - with the recession over people are now looking for choice & service in addition to value and will pay a little extra to get what they want.

GrabOne was one of the larger outfits (owned by Independent Newspapers) and was huge in Australia & New Zealand before moving here.

They tried to change their format recently to more of a "store" than a deal site, but with so many choices online, being a middle man in the online space just wasn't going to work.

sconhome

They are an appalling promotional tool from a business sense of the word.

power101

Groupon isn't even profitable.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=GRPN+Income+Statement&annual

Curb Your Enthusiasm

power101 wrote: »

Groupon isn't even profitable.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=GRPN+Income+Statement&annual

Groupon isn't all that great IMO. Never found any of their 'deals' actually good value.

GrabOne, in fairness to them, actually had some good deals. One prime example is when they were offering those €4 and €8 vouchers for their site for €1. Excellent promo.

Trojan

Amazon isn't profitable either

I think the real issue is whether they're providing a service that is a good experience for their customers, and Groupon clearly isn't.

Businesses hate them - about 70% of SMEs according to a 2011 survey - and being hated by a majority of your customers isn't good for business.

Graham

I think these 'deals' sites have always been fundamentally broken.

Businesses were initially sold on the premise that the deals sites were a new customer acquisition channel. While there may have been an element of truth in this, it quickly became apparent to most businesses that the cost of acquiring these customers was astronomical and most of them didn't hang around after their initial purchase. Worse still, some businesses were cannibalising their existing full-price customer base.

The quality of the deals dropped significantly over time with new deals consisting of 1) imported tat 2) last-gasp businesses 3) electronic/virtual products (e.g. e-learning) 4) startups desparate to show hockey-stick growth at any cost. With the drop in quality, margins must have slipped for the deal sites.

IMO Groupon should have bailed when they had the opportunity and $6 billion on the table.

allibastor

The sites are just a tool for marketing.

Simple as that, the deals are usually subject to VERY limiting conditions of use, or have very poor circumstances for delivery or receipt.

I bought a tablet computer before, good deal but took 6 weeks to arrive. Had to wait till end of deal then 4 weeks after.

Hotel breaks are OK, but again if you actually ring the hotel you will most likely get the deal directly.

I tried it with a Castle hotel in Connemara, not sure if I can name.
I rang before buying the voucher and asked about dates, lady in reception said if I hadn't bought it already they would offer same deal direct.

Kind of pointless in the long run, not a great business model unless your going for flash marketing!