Last year, I wrote a blog post about the pitfalls that retailers may face when selling deals on sites like Groupon. It appears that there may be a solution to those pitfalls. Yesterday, I attended the WagJag.com announcement about the launch of their new product WagJag Express, which is a time-sensitive mobile application that detects deals in your location that can be purchased and used immediately.
In speaking with some of the local merchants who are launching with WagJag Express today, I discovered that many of them had tried Groupon-like deals before and were disappointed that they had actually lost customers as a result of the promotion. For example, a local yoga studio in Toronto realized that they all of a sudden had a bunch of bargain hunters filling-up their classes – many of whom had limited yoga knowledge and never returned after they redeemed their deal. Over the 6 months that the deal was valid, the full classes turned-off some of their tried and true customers because they didn’t get enough assistance from their instructors. As a result, the yoga studio decided to no longer continue using daily deal promotions as a way to drive new sales.
The good news about a real-time mobile application like WagJag Express is that it gives merchants more control over how many people they want to drive to their stores and what time frame the offer is valid. That means that they don’t have to worry about an unexpected number of people who might all show up at the same time. Some of the merchants who are launching with WagJag Express this month told me that they are very hopeful that this new format will work in their favour.
For more details on what WagJag Express can do for local Canadian merchants, check-out my post from yesterday about the product launch on Techvibes.com.
What you have said is actually happening now. Small businesses who are engaged in daily deals site are going local to better service their customer and have realized the advantage of having one.