The Gray Hair Speaketh

Group Buying: Thoughts About The Business Model

What is your reaction when you see a physical product offered at an unbelievable low price??

Like a two-wheeler at 50% of its price? Or a TV at 40% of its selling price? Or even gold – at 30% discount??!

My own first reaction (tampered as it is by standard thought process on gross margins available, etc.) is that it cannot happen! Or that maybe it’s a scam. It is not the real thing. It is second-hand. It is fake gold, etc. etc. etc.

And then you look deeper. And get a bigger understanding of the process.

Every advertiser is looking for that eternal ROI. How many crores spent on making the VW Vento ad speak to Times of India readers? How many increased walk-ins to the showrooms? How many cars sold?

And calculations of that kind!

So when a group buying company suggests to you that:

–          you spend money on expensive advertising (hoarding, print, TV etc.)?

–          you want to drive footfalls and sales

–          what if that is assured to you anway

–          and you cut to the chase

So that, essentially is the model for group buying!

Divert the money out of advertising.

Put the same budget in offering exciting discounts.

Use the group buying vehicle to reach the customers who want your product.

There.. the ROI is in for the budget allocated.

But.. is it really that simple?

If its not that new mousetrap, but rather the unbelievably cheap mousetrap, there are good chances that you’d have a queue outside your door, and you can sell as much as you want.

But the questions then, are:

1. Did you advertise only to reach those few buyers who would walk-in or purchase? If that was your intention, then some means of targeted direct marketing / telemarketing would have been better options, than mass media advertising, right?
2. Your purpose of advertising was to also reach those were not going to walk-in today or purchase in the near future. People who may still register your brand somewhere in their heads, and think about you, as and when they get to a point of purchasing your product category. Or to create a general brand hype / visibility etc. Just cutting to the chase and getting those 40 walk-ins, gives you ROI, but does it give you that visibility at all?
3. Will the buyer perceive that maybe your product is actually worth 50% of your selling price, and the rest of your normal mark up, is your huge profit. And which you should not be earning, really? Could that actually cause more harm than good, in the long run?
4. Also where do you create your market for tomorrow? If you have not pushed the brand out as much, and have resorted largely to the short cut, discount driven, group buying options, the rest of the world has not been impacted by your brand. And you have left tomorrow’s market open for your competitor to lap up?!

At a time when brand managers are pushed to deliver ROI and a group buying option appears to get them there, there will be temptation to pick it up. And sell at less than cost, by explaining the difference to the marketing budget account. But I wonder if this is sustainable in the long run.

So is all group buying bad for brands? Certainly not.

Where you have perishable inventory, group buying is a beauty. Airline seats, hotel room nights, even food products approaching ‘best by’ dates. Better sold at cheap than not sold at all. And good for the buyers too. Perfect win-win.

Or for categories like services. Where each new service customer is not draining away real cost, but only utilizing the excess capacity that is anyway, idle. Theatre seats, saloon chairs, gym memberships are the examples I refer here.

What I have concern about, are physical product areas, where attempts are made to sell cheaper than cost price – by a lot – and which can over time, potentially do more harm than good, to the concerned brands.

What do you think? Love to read alternate opinions on this.. please comment below!

October 12, 2010 Posted by Sanjay Mehta | Ecommerce | advertising, business model, group buying, groupon, snapdeal, taggle | 14 Comments