2013-05-06

Daily deals business is not a new phenomena; Groupon mastered the formula and went on to become billion dollar company. A lot has changed in the deals market in the last five years but still the business model attracts entrepreneurs with unique ideas. That said, setting up a web business – daily deals business particularly – brings unique set of challenges. Below are answers to some questions that occupy minds of daily deal entrepreneurs;

What type of offers get listed on daily deals websites?

Groupon is known for listing health, fitness and beauty related deals for its rich female clientele. In the past couple of years though, deals related to tourism, hospitality and restaurants are gaining prominence. Not long ago, Groupon launched Groupon Goods that brings offers on electronics, home, personal care, toys and apparels. The business model can accommodate anything you want to sell.

So, sky is the limit with a feature rich group buying script.

Is daily deals industry losing sheen?

Glory of Groupon, its meteoric rise, and mushrooming of similar platforms all over the world gave rise to speculations that the business model is faulty. When Groupon tumbled due to accounting issues, such rumors gained more hype. But the truth is that daily deals business still has a lot of potential for new ideas and experimentation. Young entrepreneurs are still coming in and carving a niche for themselves in hospitality, tourism and secret deals.

Do only small businesses act as merchants?

Joining hands with small businesses as merchants is a very distinguishing feature of deals business system. However, it is not true that only small stores and services providers run deals. Big brands like Star Bucks also gain business momentum from such offers. It all depends on how your sales and marketing team can get merchants and big brands on board.

What role do social media play?

Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have replaced word-of-mouth communication. Some of the most successful brands reward their registered users for sharing deals with friends and loved ones. Benefits are passed to users if people referred by them make a purchase. So, social media helps deal platforms in adding to their subscription base and power business growth.

Which party- merchants, buyers or platform owners – benefits the most?

All the parties participating in the daily deals setup receive business benefit.

Merchants get new footfalls, operate at their full capability and raise sales as well as profits.

Buyers get high quality products and services at discounted price. They also get the opportunity to explore new outlets and service providers.

Platform owners get predetermined sales share from merchants.

Affiliates generate business for the platform and are rewarded in various ways by the owner. So, it can be said that every party benefits according to effort and investment made.

New deals platforms are still coming up but very few have powerful functionality and engaging ideas to engross web users. These two elements can make or break a deals platform.

So, make sure your deals platforms bring strong deals, merchant and admin features along with a killer look.

bitFATdeals is a daily deals script developed by FATbit Technologies. The web development company not only packs powerful features in the group buying script but also makes provision of custom design, 5 revisions and 12 month technical support.

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