Social buying and your business

I wrote about Social Buying in an earlier post but have received some requests for a list of social buying sites in Montreal.

Now, I haven’t tried all of them (yet) but the basic premise is the same for all the sites. You offer a deal that goes into effect once a minimum amount of deals are purchased. These sites encourage sharing of the daily deal through social networks such as Twitter and Facebook in order for the deal to become active faster. This is can result in great exposure for your business and you are only paying once the deal is activated. Another perk? The customer has purchased the deal and there’s a possibility that they may even spend more once they come to your restaurant/spa/lounge/gym/yoga studio and so on. Sort of the opposite of a newspaper ad where you hope that your business is remembered!

However, there are some things to consider:

3 Things to think about before offering a social buying deal:

• While you may attract more customers, they may not always be your target customer-i.e customers that are only looking for a deal.
• Brand dilution: If you offer deals too often, you may dilute your brand and create the expectation that people should just wait for a discount.
• Can your business support the increase in customers? For example, if your hair salon offers a discount on haircuts do you have enough hairdressers to meet the increased number of appointments?

All things worth considering!

Here is a list of social buying websites that I have come across in Montreal:

TeamBuy.ca: displays daily deals on its website and promotes them through the social web to leverage group buying power and obtain discounts for its users. Their daily deal offerings essentially includes no risk for business owners since the deal is canceled if the business owner doesn’t obtain the sales volume that was decided upon.

Tuango: These discounts only happen if a large-enough group is willing to buy the deal. The group benefits by paying less and the business benefits by selling in large volumes.

WagJag: Features a deal in your city available for a limited time.You can only get the deal if enough people join.

StealTheDeal: unique deals offered daily. ( No mention of time-limited).

LivingSocial.com: A feature that sets this site apart from the others is the incentive to tempt its users to share the daily deal with their friends: if three people buy the deal using the link you’re provided upon signing up, then you receive the deal for free.

ilovemtl.ca: Get 50-90% off exclusive deals at spas, restaurants etc around Montreal.

rabaisdujour:The minimum required number of registrations must be reached within 24 hours in order for the deal to become valid.

iget.it: Hasn’t launched yet

Have you tried offering a deal on a social buying site? I’d like to hear about your experience, let me know in the comments below.

Need help? Feel free to contact me and I can help you evaluate which site will best suit your needs.