Brick & Motor Retailing, Modern / Organized Retailing globally is now $3 Trillion Industry. Business teaches us a lesson that innovative means of engaging consumer means new way selling goods to them. After Mall retailing, Amazon showed the way of Internet Retailing. Now Groupon, SnapDeal etc are showing the power of Group Buying for consumer.
Here are two thoughts on my mind on how Group Buying Platforms can extend to become a local commerce platform for both Merchants as well as for Consumers. And leveraging such a platform could result in a deeper share of wallet of both Merchants as well as Consumers.
Group Buying Internet Platforms can layer more tools and services for Merchants in addition to the typical use-case of the Daily Deal offering – as a customer acquisition mechanism. For instance, Merchants could rely upon Group buying Site Now for managing expiring inventory or as a yield management tool. And Merchants could sign up its customers with Groupon Rewards and effectively increase customer loyalty and retention, increasing repeat behavior.
The larger among the lot have the has the potential to become a platform, offering effective, cost-efficient solutions for local and national businesses. The new products also provide significant growth runways and create opportunities to upsell.
The Second idea is to go beyond the Daily DEals in Restaurant or Spa business and venture into verticals such as Travel (with Expedia), Event Ticketing and even discounted sales of physical goods. Thus, they could evolve into a broader eCommerce platform for consumers as it makes the breadth and depth of its offerings richer and more relevant for all subscribers on its distribution list.
What say ?