Diagnostic power: Buy Spring no longer brand special selling still sexy

　　No matter how the business model of group buying is flawed, we are already living in an ex-gratia world: What are the driving factors behind the search for the best deals that have become an indispensable part of consumer life? Will it be a far-reaching trend of consumer behavior? 　　What does this mean for all consumer-facing brands? Author: Xu It is clear that the spring of group buying has passed: Groupon is no longer a representative of cool companies, and experts, including business school professors, have widely questioned whether the model is sustainable; Chinese group buying companies have a large number of broken capital chains and even closed closures , the media continues to expose group buying enterprises fraud cases, consumers began to buy a respectful attitude. A saying is that group buying will form a group of greedy and kind of users, not conducive to brand loyalty training and repeat the purchase rate of promotion, so the business is not necessarily good. 　　Since this is a dual-lose game, then the group buying companies to unsustainable, one by one, including a one-time out of the limelight of Groupon. Indeed, businesses are most concerned about the repeat purchase rate and loyalty of the target user, and the user is most concerned about whether they have received enough discounts and the true extent of the discounts. Group buying enterprises are not able to transfer the core value to users and businesses, or in the surging tide of the expansion of the lost principle? I thought it was the latter. 　　Regardless of the flaws in Groupon's business model, one should not forget that Groupon subscribers jumped from 50 million in late 2010 to 115 million in August 2011, at least to show that consumers ' love for group buying is rooted. We must face the reality that infatuation and strong demand for ex-gratia products will not be hit by the problems of group buying, and not by the recession or inflation but by the nature of consumers. We will increasingly live in an ex-gratia world. The pursuit of preferential products will become a mainstream consumer behavior. 　　Enterprises must adapt to such a reality and actively respond. The middle class is an ex-gratia charge. Don't think that only those who live in distress love coupons. Last year, Harris Interactive's poll of more than 1000 U.S. consumers found that the highest coupons were used by wealthy, well-educated urban middle-class people. According to the survey, 61% of adults with a family income of more than 100,000 dollars said they had used coupons in the past 6 months. In addition, the number of people with a college degree in the past six months has been twice times greater than that of those who have graduated from high school. 　　Of those who have consumed any type of coupon in the past 6 months, 3/4 of consumers live in big cities. The following information can be corroborated: Nielsen's October 2011 survey showedIn the eight main money-saving strategy, the two most popular among the world's consumers are discount season shopping and use coupons. Data from the September 2011 Mintel show that 62% of American consumers and 58% of British consumers do not intend to buy clothes at full price. The 2010 Deloitte survey said 81% of American consumers thought it would be a pleasure to save money with a discount coupon or a shopping card. 　　Yipit September 2011 Statistics show that among the top 10 daily specials, there are 399-dollar seven-night resort rooms, 6-dollar burger, 5-dollar movie tickets and soda-water packages, and 70-dollar theater tickets. The same is true of China. Among Nielsen's figures, the proportion of Chinese consumers with preferred coupons is 67%. The enthusiasm of the urban middle class for preferential products is also unusually high. In February of this year, the travel service provider Travelzoo through its Sina official microblogging exclusive published a travel package information: Located in Thailand, the Marriott Hot spring Resort Village three-night value package, booking price of 1700 yuan, equivalent to 35 percent of the original price, and the end of October effective. The package was forwarded by the user more than 3,000 times in a few days and 2000 sets were snapped. 　　Without exception, the buyers are the middle-class white-collar workers who pursue short-term overseas vacations in Beijing and Shanghai. Consumers instinctively love the best deals, or the exclusive discounts and rewards. 　　Bargaining was once seen as too shrewd to take advantage, but now it has become a skill: you can get a big discount, the best ex-gratia, this is the feeling of heartbeat, worth showing off the pursuit of life, but also a kind of social value, status of the source. Not only that, the pursuit of preferential products also means that consumers have greater control over the process of consumption: to gain more value with less money. 　　People love the high price and value of things, which means that every dollar saved, you can enjoy more new products, better service, and a richer experience. Preferential sales mode innovation on the preferential love can be said to be a change in the shape of consumer life is a vane: people are more and more sophisticated, with more and more consumer choice, the quality and price-performance expectations higher, in the relationship with the brand providers expect to gain greater control. Therefore, we must accept the fact that the offer is no longer just a bargain and a discount coupon for the consumer, nor is it a clearance sale for the merchant. The benefits should be immediate, relevant, cool, and experiential. 　　Under the impetus of scientific and technological innovation, ex-gratia sales are becoming the main source of innovation of electric business model. First of all, all kinds of mobile phone application services, so that the sale of ex-gratia products into the current on-site, to cite a few examples: Groupon now! It was a mobile application service that Groupon launched in April 2011, and users can instantly get an ex-gratia product that lasts only a few hours or only for some time. GrouponIt is expected that in the next two years, mobile phone trading will account for 50% of its business, it can be seen that Groupon has placed great expectations on the handset terminal. 　　Thinknear Service: In the business season when businesses will automatically generate coupons, pushed to consumers, businesses need to clearly inform the off-season period, as well as the expected discount range. 　　Brouha only by SMS to provide preferential information, consumers enter the store, can immediately receive the store's ex-gratia products and related information. Bitehunter is based on the location of mobile phone applications, for users to search the hotel site and SNS community, real-time display of the nearest catering concessions. 　　Second, to provide relevant, personalized requirements to meet the special offers, orientation and targeted delivery: American Express November 2011 on Facebook launched a service, according to the user's preferences, points of interest and social relations, to provide targeted special offers. June 2011, Koaladeal provides targeted daily specials to users. 　　As long as users tell their tastes and interests, or let the site search for their past shopping experiences, hobbies, etc. on Facebook and Twitter, Koaladeal will search the most relevant products in 50 daily specials and recommend them to users. July 2011, Living Social Cooperation, the user in the purchase of tickets, the United States is recommended destination City of the ex-gratia products, and according to the ticket stay time to filter, after the end of the trip automatically stop recommending. Finally, today's ex-gratia sales are more creative and entertaining spirit, even in how to obtain and cash, can also become a status and personality of the embodiment: sneakpeeq.com According to the user's personality, recommend three items a day. The site does not have a price tag, users must click on their favorite products, peeping prices, each peeping can make the price of goods fall. 　　Shoppers only have 15 seconds to click and buy. 　　Uniqlo, a Japanese retailer, installed a Uniqlo fast instrument at a new London store, which will release a large discount for different periods of time. 　　American men's retailer Bonobos a promotional campaign: Easter eggs online search, promotional code hidden in the official website of the different pages, users can find out, to deduct 10~500 dollar of the offline shopping. 　　March 2011, U.S. retailer Gap launched its own group buying website Gapmyprice.com, consumers decide how much money they want to buy a product, Gap then told its own prices, consumers or accept the price, if it is too expensive to bargain until the two sides deal. Living in a privileged world there is no doubt that we have inevitably lived in a business system that relies on concessions to drive consumption. is not a business willing to participate in the issue, andIs the question of how to participate. Only irreplaceable products, quality, experience and stunning personality products can make people give up any online research, price comparison, or negotiate prices, and rushed to the door to buy. In addition to Apple, there seems to be very few brands to achieve this extreme. Most of the products are commonplace, replaceable, and lack of individuality. 　　In the face of the following reality, there is no reason for businessmen to lift the arrogant head, to avoid any discount sales? 　　Consumers will be more and more willing to receive special offers, and for this, tireless, sleepless. Have a group purchase website, special recommendation platform, and so on, ex-gratia products without consumers to find, and will be intelligent to the doorstep. The future impulse purchase will be more stimulated, the merchant according to consumer's preference, geographical location, individuality and realize the directional send. 　　Ex-gratia products will find their own consumers, not the other way around. 　　Group buying site through more rewards to repay the old users, by focusing on the interests of businesses and users to adhere to the principle of the point, can improve loyalty and repeat the purchase rate, buy can achieve a virtuous cycle. 　　If the merchant wishes to sell the product to the user at full price, it must find sufficient reasons, such as adding and emphasizing the irreplaceable nature of its products. Who says prices must be static? In order to fill the cabin, airlines to maximize revenue, the use of dynamic pricing mechanism. 　　This dynamic and diversified price system will eventually appear in more industries, and prices vary with different customer groups, different seasons and different locations. This is a new consumer ecosystem, with smart ex-gratia packaging and sales tools, to find target consumers, improve user transformation and trust, and interact with them in a fresh way to help them achieve a higher price/performance ratio. 　　If you make good use of it, the consumer is yours. (Author Xu: Marketing consultant, President of Shanghai Yue Xing Technology Co., Ltd.) [Original title: Group Buy Spring no longer ex-gratia is still sexy]