That big “SALE” sign in your window is just BS!
Looks like FTD and Groupon have had a huge Valentines day faux pas. According to Techcrunch.com, “Groupon offered users throughout the U.S. a $20 off coupon for Valentines Day flowers from FTD. People who bought the coupon had to use a special URL to purchase the flowers. And then they were shown a regular price for the flowers of $50 before the
$20 coupon. Which is fine except that the regular FTD site shows a price of $40 for the same item, meaning Groupon users only really got $10 off, not $20.” What caught my attention with the Techcrunch.com article was the authors idea that, “I assume that ‘sale!’ signs in retail businesses are usually just BS. The stores keep normal prices higher than they should be so they can offer customers a faux discount. Whether it’s always true or just often true doesn’t matter. People don’t really get all that excited about signs that say ‘HUGE SALE 50% OFF’ or whatever. We’re desensitized to it.” While I agree that most people don’t get excited about half-off anymore, the idea that retail stores keep their prices high so we can offer customers discounts is absurd. Yet I have heard this before from people who don’t know what it means to run a small retail store. We have an image problem.
The Techcrunch.com article finishes with this, “for Groupon to continue to grow they need to get more big national advertisers, and those advertisers need to not be screwing around with customer trust. The Gap campaign was well handled. This FTD ‘deal’ wasn’t. Sour deals like this hurt Groupon’s brand, because burned customers won’t be so eager to check out the new daily deals. They’ll just assume it’s a scam, and ignore it all. Just like those HUGE SALE! signs in the window at your favorite retail store.”
The author of the article say’s Groupon needs big national advertisers that won’t screw around with customer trust. Say what? If the author of this article is a customer of yours, he thinks your overpricing your merchandise just so you can offer a HUGE SALE. He also thinks big companies care more about customer trust? Why get involved in Groupon if the people you are going to attract with it are like the author of this article? Where is the long term relationship building?
I have written about Groupon before. Why would a garden center would want to get involved with a business model that devalues the plants, and other gardening goods we sell? My market is not the guy who authored the Techcrunch.com article who thinks we are overpriced unless we mark stuff down by half. Why would I want to focus my attention on someone who believes only large companies care about customer trust. A guy who believes that, “just assume it’s a scam, and ignore it all. Just like those HUGE SALE! signs in the window at your favorite retail store.”
Crazy low prices on selected merchandise, that has to have a laundry list of qualifications and restrictions to prevent customer mis-understanding, is not for me. My predication is Groupon is going to wish they sold out to Google when they had a chance.
@ketelsen @chris_heiler my latest post, valentines day faux pas with Groupon, FTD http://ow.ly/3WNnL
I wonder if any of the State’s Attorney General will go after them for “Sales Fraud”. In most states that is an illegal, as well as unethical sales practice. But then the whole Groupon thing seems to be a stupid extortion racket that makes absolutely no business sense that I can see….
Hap, it does seem odd that the only way to get people in our doors is to advertise stuff at half price or more? How does this benefit the business? Groupon preys on people who think retail is making big bucks off them. How about offering a fair price for your goods and services daily? If that’s not good enough then we don’t need those customers.
Don’t know if you saw the “osechi” incident with Groupon Japan – the pictures in the Fast Company article are great (as long as you were the person that was supposed to eat it).
http://www.fastcompany.com/1723996/groupon-hurting-in-japan-following-osechi-incident-report
The only time I could possibly see Groupon being beneficial to the business is for one that is just opening up and uses it to get the word out – maybe… I say maybe from the reviews I’ve read at Groupon and from people who use it at other blogs, you still might not attract anyone who would come back without another coupon. I do agree they should have sold when they had the chance – that deal isn’t going to come back!
The plants at my nursery never go on sale and my customers know it. If they want it, they buy it then. If you routinely have sales, then your customers will wait to buy at a discount. And the season is so short they don’t have long to wait. But worst of all, if they are waiting for your sale, they may never come back because plants are not a necessity so they can easily move on or forget.
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For what it’s worth here is Groupon’s refund attempt.
Update: Groupon responds below in the comments. Among other things, they’re giving users an automatic refund for any difference they paid over the retail price FTD was offering everyone else.
Hey Everyone,
This is Joe Harrow. I’m the head of customer service at Groupon.
First of all, we totally see where everyone is coming from – we spotted this issue last night and have been working since then to make it right.
We just sent an announcement to everyone who has purchased this Groupon that explains what we’re doing:
First, we worked with FTD to make the Groupon valid for merchandise at the sale price. As customers ourselves, we were confused by the initial presentation of the prices as well.
Second, anyone that already used their Groupon to buy something from FTD that was on sale will automatically receive a refund to their card for the difference that they paid over the sale price.
There is nothing more important to us than cultivating our customers’ trust, and we know that the best way to do that is to consistently offer great deals without “gotchas.” Thanks to everyone who expressed their disappointment and called this to our attention.
They are starting to perfect the art of apology.
I don’t own a nursery but as a consumer I used to wait for sales at my favorite local nursery. They would never be well advertised and I would miss them which would make me angry. It also created a perception of needing to be an “insider” to know about the sales. And while we are on the subject the employees and owner were not especially welcoming anyway.
I don’t own a nursery but as a consumer I used to wait for sales at my favorite local nursery. They would never be well advertised and I would miss them which would make me angry. It also created a perception of needing to be an “insider” to know about the sales. And while we are on the subject the employees and owner were not especially welcoming anyway.