Groupon, Daily Deal Sites Evolving Beyond Email Marketing
The meteoric rise of daily deal sites like Groupon was almost as captivating to follow in the press as their precipitous fall. But according to the latest industry stats and projections, daily deal companies can’t be written off just yet. In fact, their comeback is underway according to industry experts and analysts like Boyan Josic.
“We all watched the historic rise of daily deals several years ago, which was quickly followed by a jarring correction in the industry,” says Josic, the founder of Daily Deal Media. “Now we are seeing a slight surge in both merchant demand and the performance of Groupon and other deal sites that have made it through some testing times.”
With SMS mobile marketing, mobile coupons, and expertly targeted mobile ads lighting a fire under daily deals once again, people are taking another look at this industry.
So where exactly do things stand today?
Groupon’s stock has seen its highest levels in nearly a year. On June 14, GRPN soared 17 percent on news that analyst Ross Sandler of Deutsche Bank upgraded Groupon to a “buy”, pointing to signs that the company has transitioned well beyond just email and daily deals.
“This scale and independence makes Groupon an interesting acquisition candidate for larger entities looking for a global presence in e-commerce, especially during the current time period where the growth and sustainability of the model is still controversial among the investment community,” says Sandler.
But it’s not just established daily deal titans that are ripe for acquisition or market expansion.
“We are also seeing an uptick in startups launching in the deal space again,” Josic says. “Not so much pure daily deal plays like we’ve seen in the past, but many that have some sort of deal component built into their business model or are going after opportunistic niches. For example, Kidsy.co, which test-launched last month, provides activities for families with children and the ability to organize play dates with your friends or people in your neighborhood.”
