Rue La La Sees Staff Cut Backs – Plans to Outsource Sales Force
Here we are less than two weeks into the New Year and the daily deals industry continues to show signs that 2012 may be the year that we see many deal providers throwing in the towel or at least making some significant cutbacks. The Boston Globe reports that Rue La La, a members-only flash sales site that launched in 2008, laid off 65 of its 550 employees on Thursday and will be outsourcing its sales force with an as yet unnamed company.
Rue La La’s parent company, Retail Convergence Inc will also be closing down another site, SmartBargains and merging it into Rue La La.
The Globe goes on to say, “Rue La La had been a drag on the earnings of its previous parent company, GSI Commerce, a division of eBay Inc. GSI bought Rue La La in 2009 in a deal valued at $350 million but in 2011 spun off Rue La La as a private company, with eBay retaining 30 percent ownership.”
Rue La La remains optimistic and in a statement said it has seen ‘‘dramatic growth with nearly $300 million in sales in 2011 and similar growth planned for 2012 and beyond.’’
Daily Deal Media reported on Rue La La last May when it was preparing to launch its daily deal site, Rue Local. At that time Mark McWeeny, Rue Local president said, “Our customers are very different from the coupon-clipping customer that frequents Groupon. They spend more than the average ticket, tell all their friends and they come back.”
It seems like something in that statement didn’t work out quite right.
Source: The Boston Globe
BiteDownDeals, the Exclusive Daily Dealer of Dentistry Expands Offerings
Sink your teeth into multiple deals per day
BiteDownDeals is at it again. On 
January 9th, the first daily dealer dedicated exclusively to dental professionals began offering multiple daily deals at unbelievable prices. BiteDownDeals wants to be the ‘go to’ site when dental offices need to purchase their dental supplies. The original platform of deals lasting 24 hours (or until sold out) remains intact. An added feature allows customers several deals per day to choose from.
“This is a huge opportunity that we are offering our customers!” exclaims Michelle Schwartz, Vice President of BiteDownDeals, Inc. “Having proven ourselves over the past nine months with our daily deal, we are confident that our customers want more products at our low prices. Since our launch, we have been able to hone in on the deals that our customers are looking for and save them time and money.”
Daily Deal Media featured BiteDownDeals in mid April. BiteDownDeals Launches Deals for Dental Professionals We believed then that this niche marketer might be on to something and had hoped to hear back from them as they traveled down the daily dealing highway. Well, since that time, the company has seen tremendous growth registering members from across the United States. BiteDownDeals continues to remain only site catering exclusively to dental professionals. The company has been featured in Dentistry Today, Dr. BiCuspid and PC World.
No overbite; oops, I mean overhead
BiteDownDeals is able to beat the competition’s prices on dental products by 30% to 60%. They achieve this without inventory and have no overhead. On top of that, the shipping is only $5. That’s right, flat rate shipping on any purchase, nationwide. Members to the site can also sign up to receive an email each time new deals are offered.
If you are in the dental arena and have a colleague or two that might be interested, get them on board. For every colleague that places an order of $100 or more, you will receive a 10% off coupon in your BiteDownDeals account. Please note that both you and your referrals must have a BiteDownDeals account in order for you to receive your referral credit.
About BiteDownDeals.com, Incorporated:
BiteDownDeals.com is the first daily deal website dedicated exclusively to dentists. With over 30 years expertise in dental sales, we know dentists’ needs, and we know a deal when we see it. Our goal is simple, to save you money on essential dental products you use regularly. We’ve tapped our deep-rooted, dependable relationships to negotiate the lowest price possible on products you use everyday. In an economy where saving money is essential, we bring you a daily solution. BiteDownDeals offers you dental deals you can sink your teeth into!
Learn more at http://www.BiteDownDeals.com
Source: PRWeb
Who and What Drives the “Luxury” Trade in North America?
The current market scenario in North America may be of concern to many, especially those who run the ‘luxury trade’. However, they may like to know that every one in three American ‘consumers’ seems to have made one purchase in last six months which fits the “luxury” label as per a survey conducted by Empathica. The next obvious question is how do you define ‘luxury’?
Luxury can be a need for some, ‘a way of life’ and for some it may be an aspiration. The perception of luxury’ varies with the income group and gender. However the cost of luxury as per the survey is more gender skewed than one would possibly imagine. The survey reveals that women are much easier to please than men. For most women, luxury begins at $100 and ends at $ 500. However, if you are a lady wanting to gift a ‘luxury’ product to a man, please note that men do not consider anything luxurious if it is under $1000. However, if like most people you are buying for yourself, you don’t buy on impulse and purchase only after careful consideration, the survey reveals.
Merchants who have pinned their hopes on online selling should be aware of the fact that ‘online purchasing of luxury goods’ is not yet the dominant trend. It would also help to know that although Americans are more forthcoming for an online purchase, a vast majority of the Canadians (70%) believe in in-store, touch and feel shopping.
‘Pastures on the other side are greener’ fits the bill when it comes to describing ‘perception of wealth’ by consumers. Those who are perceived as ‘wealthy’ have to earn at least a 100,000 USD per annum by those who earn 50,000 USD to 60,000 USD. If you ask the one’s earning 100,000 USD if they are wealthy, very few will agree. As for majority, the milestone of wealth then begins at 250,000 USD. Obviously the milestone of wealth keeps shifting.
Empathica is a customer experience management company based in Canada and US, the survey is a part of their Consumer Insight Panel.
Source: PRWeb
NHDailyDeal.com Sets Benchmarks for Regional Daily Deals Sites
Launched about a year ago, NHDailyDeal.com has been providing highly-discounted daily deals in the New Hampshire region. However, the amount of savings passed on to customers via NHDailyDeal.com has just been realized.
Total savings passed on to customers amounts to nearly $125,000 since November 2010. This figure is a considerable feat since the site is committed to serving primarily residents in and around the Granite State of New Hampshire only.
During this period, the site has sold nearly 6,000 deals and more importantly, the site has earned the reputation of being true to its commitment of providing the maximum possible discounts to its local community.
Using the collective buying format found across most daily deals sites, NHDailyDeal ensures that one or more irresistible daily deal offers are presented each day. Participating merchants include local event organizers, restaurants and retailers.
NHDailyDeal promotes participation from friends and family, underlining its unique community appeal. The site’s increasing popularity is also visible on its crowded Facebook page. People can stay updated about NHDailyDeal deals via Facebook as well as present their suggestions or get their queries about daily deals answered. Members can check NHDailyDeal daily deal alerts on their emails too.
Source: NH.com
Daily Dealer Travelzoo Sees a Marked Improvement in Billings – Competition Intensifies
Improved billings – lack of loyalty – increased competition
November numbers are in for Travelzoo (NASDAQ ticker symbol: TZOO) and the company registered a solid 44% growth in local deals gross billings. This is a significant increase over October billings and places the company in third position trailing only Groupon and LivingSocial in terms of dollar gross billings for the month.
The TREFIS article states that they believe “a major threat to Travelzoo Local Deals is that its business model is very easy to replicate. This has spawned a large number of deal-based clone sites that provide similar discounts to subscribers.” The article also sources the Susquehanna/Yipit survey. In a nutshell, that survey stated that “businesses that have offered an online deal-of-the-day in the past aren’t planning to do so again in the next six months due to concerns on low rates of repeat business from new customers.”
It’s really the same argument that has been verbalized ad nausea. Low barriers of entry, more competition, and lack of customer loyalty…yada yada yada. Travelzoo is not stupid. They went into the deal space with their eyes open. The company continues to differentiate itself by leveraging its existing relationships with hotels to offer high-end deals. It also relies on its other travel-advertising and search products to boost volumes for its local deals segment.
Travelzoo continues to expand its local deal offers via the ‘Getaways’ business model. That platform produces a larger amount of revenue as the ticket items are typically much larger. Travelzoo contends that its approach to daily dealing is very difficult to replicate owing to its rigorous deal quality standards. We have touched on this in several Daily Deal Media posts how important quality standards are.
The TREFIS post re-iterates how competitive the social buying space has become. The article estimates that there are over 200 social buying site clones in the U.S. alone and over 500 worldwide. I think those numbers are way off. Our sources show somewhere between 400 and 600 U.S. sites and literally thousands world wide.
There is always the possibility of eroding take rates (percentage of gross revenue kept by group-buying platforms). Daily dealer Kgbdeals charges 15% from merchants verses the 40% charged by Travelzoo. Competitive pressures like those could lead to a decline in take rates charged by Travelzoo over time. In the meantime, the growth rate of this portion of Travelzoo’s business model continues to be stellar. I am looking forward to their December numbers as well as 2012.
Source: Trefis
