My previous post was about Groupon, and I couldn’t help but notice not one but two cartoons by the very insightful marketing cartoonist: Tom Fishburne. Click on any of his cartoons and you would get a write up with insights coupled with humour, with a generous dash of reality and seductive topping of realistic sarcasm.
After having received relentless mails everyday on some or the other offer and after reading so many write ups on the business model of GroupOn I couldn’t help but confess my realization of 2 trends that seem to be playing out vis-a-visa GroupOne:
1. Democracy is now online and is becoming an unassailable online force at that. Marketers better take note!
2. “Marketers.. please don’t pander to the lure of volumes by sacrificing value. Be selective and selective and yes selective while pandering to this ‘democracy’. “
As Tom says:
“While 50-90% discounts are right for certain brands and business models, the daily deal mindset doesn’t drive loyalty. It trains customers to buy your brand on deal.”
The key words? Value Sales, Volume Sales, Brand Equity and yes good old Loyalty.
1 year from now it would be interesting to see:
1. How many new brands would owe their presence to GroupOn (I see so many merchant establishments in Singapore that have begun to scream “notice-me” sailing on the wave of GroupOn)
2. How many establishments would owe their soon-to-come-absence to GroupOn (a related story)
Riffs on technology, marketing & culture 