Comments on: Can I use coupons to build my business? It works for restaurants like Papa John’s.

By: bodellconsulting

bodellconsulting — Tue, 03 May 2011 18:24:36 +0000

The experience of nearly every restaurateur I know who has used Groupon would disagree that it is effective. The brand that Groupon customers follow is “Groupon”. After eating at your restaurant at a discount, they are off to the next restaurant offering a deal on Groupon instead of coming back to eat at your restaurant.

By: Jim Bo

Jim Bo — Tue, 03 May 2011 03:15:05 +0000

Your espoused this sage wisdom just as Groupon embarked on its whirlwind marketing domination in dozens of the planet’s largest metropolitan areas. While I feel that accepting less than 25 cents for every dollar in product or service given away is overly generous, one time special offers have long been accepted as an effective way for businesses to entice new customers and thank loyal ones. And I equate brand loyalty with blind loyalty… there is often something better out there then the company that spends the most money branding itself can possibly offer.

By: bodellconsulting

bodellconsulting — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 01:05:54 +0000

Macys and JC Penney have been losing market share for years. Not exactly who I’d want to model my marketing after. They also sell many products to “one-time” shoppers. With a restaurant, advertising to “one=time” shoppers is the kiss of death. The average dollar cost of getting one person into a retail business is $10-$15. If you’re not doing something to create brand loyalty and bring that person back, that is a net loss in most restaurants.

If a restaurant is going to use a model for their marketing, they need to stick to modeling after other successful restaurants who also have to build a following of loyal regulars to be successful, not a retail chain that uses couponing to attract one-time customers to high ticket items.

By: online coupons

online coupons — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:26:11 +0000

Coupons are a great way to get your name out and some instant business, not necessarily build a brand name or achieve customer loyalty. That said, for any new business first steps should be to get visitor to the door step. Hell, if Macy and JCPenny can run coupon ads and promotions every week, there is definately some value. If you can’t find your adv. nitche, follow on of these major retails and adapt their adv. strategies. Just my $0.02 .

By: bodellconsulting

bodellconsulting — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 04:03:40 +0000

I agree they don’t encourage brand loyalty. If anything, they most often entice people who aren’t and won’t be loyal to your business. Of course, they’re also most often misused, which is why they don’t necessarily make a retailer money. I’d say it’s quite the opposite, and most retailers, restaurants or otherwise, just use coupons as a way to attract new customers, thinking they’ll wow them with their product or service and earn a repeat customer. In reality, they just demonstrate the type of value a business DOES NOT offer at it’s regular prices. Not the message a business should be sending a customer.

By: 258marketing

258marketing — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 01:49:40 +0000

Coupons don’t encourage brand loyalty. And they don’t necessarily make a retailer money.

Unless it’s a “new customers only” cavaet…the people using coupons likely would have been your customers anyway, and you just discounted a product or service.

Chris Mitchell
http://258marketing.wordpress.com/

By: bodellconsulting

bodellconsulting — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 23:50:36 +0000

Sure there are. Couponing is a complicated tool that most operators, even the franchisees at chains, don’t understand. It’s not something I suggest in most cases to most owners, but there are exceptions. Those being situations where an owner is looking for avenues to promote value driven offers, or other “value” strategies meant to help drive up the average gross profit collected per person. When actual gross profit, and needed gross profit, per customer or per item, is factored into an offer, a coupon can be an effective method to promote an offer that delivers an increased gross profit per customer or item, instead of decreasing the gross profit and hurting the perceived value of the products as most coupon offers do. That said, coupons shouldn’t be the only, or even the primary, method of communicating with customers. Ideally, a restaurant has better lines of communication in the form of newsletters, emails and direct mail pieces to promote offers. That’s not always the case though, and sometimes “alternative” methods of communication, like coupons, may have to be utilized.

That is a somewhat complicated tactic though, and not something most owners have the information or knowledge to do alone, so in most cases, I just recommend against coupons.

By: Jeffrey Summers

Jeffrey Summers — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:09:40 +0000

If coupons are so “dangerous” why use them at all? Aren’t there better ways to make a living than to be at the mercy of the next coupon? Which anyone on the street can copy? And usually does!