I really don't understand why you all have such a disliking for groupon will somebody please explain
Where to start?
I have a treatment clients pay £25 for. Groupon want to sell this to clients for at most £12. By the time you take out commission and VAT I would only be paid £5 for a treatment that I would normally charge £25.
And that £5 I won't get until a month after the client has been. Groupon then won't allow me to limit it to just say 15 or 20 clients, no they want one hundred people to buy it.
But then there is a system failure or they "forget to set the limit" to stop selling more then the 100 vouchers we agreed on.
I now can't use the phone because I have all these people trying to book in for a treatment that I will make a huge loss on. And then I can't book in clients who pay full price. So I end up loosing even more money.
All these people can't book in, so they start to bad mouth me and my salon and demand a refund. But the refund isn't from me its from Groupon. And they don't complain about Groupon to their friends ... they complain about the salon because they have a voucher they paid for but can't use damaging my reputation.
Lets say 80% of those clients manage to book in and have a treatment with me. Of the remaining 20%, baring in mind it is my salon and name they are selling how much money will I see from those vouchers? Oh that's right - nothing.
And of course lets not forget all these clients who paid just £12 for a £25 treatment ... most of them don't want to rebook or come again and pay £25. No they would rather look for the next Groupon, Wowcher, LivingSocial, Gumtree offer and pay less then half price again. Because their dominant buying motive is price, not service, quality, or respecting the salon they get the treatment from.
That is why I don't like Groupon and the like.