Bargain hunters love a good half off coupon for a product or service, but many businesses who enter into those deals are coming out with the short end of the stick. The customer gets a great price, but they are often hesitant to pay full price later. Sometimes the company makes money on the increase of sales, but there are times when the company is left in the red. Forbes looks at the good and the bad of daily deals.
Merchants can’t take anymore. Lots of them have been complaining that whenever they offer a deal, other services come out of the woodwork and pitch them incessantly. Others think they’re no good for their businesses in the first place, since they condition customers to expect profit-killing discounts. (Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman mentioned the unsustainability of 50% discounts in his blog post explaining the company’s move.) Most of the deals I’ve taken are for businesses I already frequent and probably still would, deal or no deal.
Lame, repetitive offers. Seriously, I’m never going to a spa, no matter how many or how big the discounts.
Still, daily deals aren’t dead yet. Here’s why:
They’re deals! People will always love deals. And despite complaints of too many cold calls from deal services, clearly a lot of merchants like them.
Photo by sunshinecity