I was thinking of doing it so I helped out a girlfriend at the spa she manages when her Groupon clients overwhelmed the staff. Here is my 2 cents:
1. They operate on appts so the groupon people dominated the schedule at the expense of regular clients. Each staff person is about 70% booked on average so it was difficult fitting clients. 2. The grouponers were very price minded and almost all of them did not react well to being upsold. They were there for the cheap pedi and detox special and that was that. 3. None of the clients became regulars or used other services. Like I said, they were there for the cheap pedi and that was that. 4. It was a gamble the spa lost out on, in wages and other operating costs vs money brought in by the groupon crowd. Their client base floated what would have been a big loss. It would be like paying a full staff complement to do overtime when no one was booked. 4. I don't know what it is about sales and gift certificates but they seem to attract the pickiest people ever. Expecting good service is one thing, but they always seem to want to squeeze even more out of you for free. It gets crass, quickly. I have listened to groupon salons here in Winnipeg talk about their experiences as well as my own in helping Corinne. A lot of my industry peers here said publicly it was great but in private that they would never do it again. It seems like groupon and groupon clones are passing like a fad through Winnipeg anyway. At first, the specials would sell out like crazy and now I see the same salon had been running the same special for ages and no one else has one out. I decided it was not for me. Nicole On 2011-10-18 10:28 PM, "Karen" <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hey guys...those of you who have done these....I need some REAL information...not what the salesman told the owners of the salon I'm working in! > > 1. Do you feel you get a mix of "real" customers versus "bargain hunters" > > 2. Any idea of the conversion-to-regular-client rate? > > 3. Did you feel you made money? Broke even? Took a hosing? > > 4. If you thought of doing it again, what would you do differently? > > 5. How long was your deal available to purchase? Was that long enough? Too long? > > 6. As time goes by....what percentage do you feel are never redeemed, if any? > > 7. How does Groupon stack up against others like Living Social, Travel Zoo, etc...?? > > Really need my posse to help me out here..... > > > Karen Hodges > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "NailTech" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nailtech?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "NailTech" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nailtech?hl=en.
