To make an offer through the new couponing platforms such as Groupon, Lets Bonus or Groupalia, they will require you to offer a discount of between 30% and 80% on your usual price. In addition, they will charge you a commission per sale that can reach 50%. With these conditions, surely you are already wondering if it is worth using them.
The next question will be which of all to choose. And although at first glance they seem the same, they are not at all. Neither for the offer nor for its conditions. The main platforms such as Lets Bonus, Groupon and Groupalia are general channels, offering all kinds of products and services. Others, such as Offer.me, Mequedouno or Sibaritic, focus their offer exclusively on products. And there are them, like El tenedor, that have specialized in restaurants. The conditions that each one imposes on its suppliers also change a lot.
A marketing strategy
When you raise the question of profitability with the salespeople of each platform, everyone, absolutely everyone, will tell you that the main advantage is that they offer you customers on a platter. “Suppliers must understand that collaboration with us is for them a new marketing tool at their service to increase their visibility before hundreds of thousands (even millions) of users who are potential clients, who could not be reached from another mode ”, explains Guillermo Llibre, director of Groupalia Spain.
The other side of the coin is that, as Jesús Maroto, founder of the Globalpropaganda consultancy, explains, “there are users who never repeat”. And if they don't come back, it will never be profitable for you.
To really be worth it, you must take advantage of the contacts they provide you. “The work of customer loyalty that comes to your business is yours. That is, Groupalia can redirect a large mass of customers to your establishment, but whether they repeat depends on the quality and competitiveness of the service you are willing to offer. You must come up with your own marketing tactics (offers or promotions) to achieve that loyalty. And always remember that the quality of service is an essential condition for the customer to return ”, explains Guillermo Llibre.
“Crowdselling and loyalty are the keys to making these promotions profitable. And in service businesses - such as spas, wellness, etc. - it is something that is relatively easy to achieve. These businesses sell creams and other products that are a channel to increase the performance of these campaigns ”, recommends Jordi Torrent, Communication Director of Lets Bonus.
The grain of the chaff
But before letting yourself be blinded by the possibility of reaching millions of users and by their argument that if you don't sell, you don't pay (which is true in all of them), you should do your homework well and assess whether your income statement can withstand an increase. of considerable sales at those prices (in the first box of this report you can see how to do it).
Another fundamental problem is choosing the right products and services to offer on these channels. Most look for products that are more or less exclusive and with quality. Its objective is to give the customer the feeling that they are accessing something good and at a good price. They do not accept products from other seasons or that no longer have output. On the contrary, they look for attractive products and services.
That is why these are platforms that are not profitable for all businesses. “For services, it is easier to make their actions profitable than for businesses, because the former tend to work with more margin.
If we talk about products, if you do not work with manufacturers, but with suppliers, it is almost impossible to make it profitable. The commission makes it unfeasible. If you are a business, you must be very clear about two things: offer attractive products, but that for you have an interesting margin; and then take advantage of the channel, understand that suddenly a series of users can arrive, ask them for their email and incorporate it to work with them directly. It's the way to get the best performance, ”says Carlos Puigjaner, CEO of Dooplan.
If you are clear that your business fits into them, it remains to know how to choose the most appropriate one:
Quality, not quantity. Not always more users is synonymous with greater success. “A platform can have millions of users but if your offer is focused on one area, most of them are not an option for you. We do not have as many as the market leaders, but we are concentrated in Madrid and Barcelona. An SME has to decide if it wants to be in the big ones with everything that involves selling and serving 2,000 users at a discount. Likewise, it is more profitable to sell 1,500 with others or make several offers progressively and in a controlled way than to sell hundreds of thousands and not be able to cope, ”warns Carlos Puigjaner.
Public profile. It doesn't change much from one to the other. Most have a predominantly female client (60%), between the ages of 25 and 45. What can change more is whether it is exclusively for bargain seekers (which do not interest you because they do not repeat) or a higher quality audience.
“There are generalist platforms, with similar commissions, that offer more receptive audiences, who are not only looking for price. That is essential. The responsibility that each platform has with its suppliers is key to knowing how to choose. And that you will find with the number of establishments that repeat; This is what indicates that the platform generates sales and quality, as well as a brand image. You can see what customers say about their shopping experiences, the comments they make in chats and forums, ”advises Jesús Maroto.
Question of commissions. Some platforms have fixed commissions for the entire offer, others differentiate between products and services or by categories and each offer is even negotiated based on the profit margin of each provider. “A percentage in a restaurant is not the same as in a hairdresser or a hotel. The first has more costs and the same cannot be applied to it ”, explains Vicente Arias, CEO of Offerum.
In any case, always negotiate with all the weapons you have. For example, keep in mind that “if you have an attractive product that you are interested in having in the catalog, you can further reduce the commission, because it will bring traffic”, recommends Carlos Puigjaner.
"In general, you do not have to accept aggressive conditions, neither for commissions, nor because they do not allow you to limit your offer. This is the easiest to die of success. And it can even happen if you have a service business, such as a hotel ”, warns Jesús Maroto.
Discounts and something else. “It's not just about making wild discounts, it's about offering something attractive. A very high discount is only successful when the person making the offer is a very prestigious brand, ”says Puigjaner.
Coupon validity. “You must try to negotiate everything. The days when the coupon can be used, its duration in months ... They usually allow six months, but try to shorten it to three. If you are a service, other than on peak dates, like Easter, etc. ”, recommends Jesús Maroto.
Finally, do not forget to ask a crucial question to know if they are selling you smoke: What average percentage of success do you have in each offer you make? How many people end up buying
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