Using Groupon can be very exciting for a business. Sometimes it can be too exciting. Take for example this bakery in the UK who says they lost $19,500.00 due to having to pay for supplemental labor during the Groupon special. The bakery owner underestimated how popular the special would be and 8,500 people signed up for the offer. What was the offer? 12 cupcakes for $10 which were normally priced at $40. She lost between $2.90 and $4.70 on each dozen.
What can be learned from this? The bakery owner’s goal was more business. Obviously Groupon upheld their end of the deal there. It sounds like in this case, too much of a good thing was…well, too much!
Limit Your Exposure
Groupon does allow you to limit your offer so if you know you’re not willing to bring in extra staff and train them for the rush that Groupon will create, limit the offer to the first X number of orders. The trick is managing the mind tricks that will inevitably come when the rush is over and you tell yourself, “Gee, I bet we could’ve done 50 more orders”.
Know What Your Normal Staff Can Handle
The worst thing that could happen is that your staff is stressed during the offer and they walk out on you leaving you with an enormous amount of offers that you cannot fill. Look at your current production. Are you able to handle any more orders without bringing in help? Ask your team for their input. If they don’t think they can handle and extra 2500 orders or whatever your limiter is, then there’s your answer.
Bring in Extra Help and Train Them
Have a meeting with your team based on the questions you asked them about the temporary increase in production. You did ask them, right? Our example bakery was only used to making 100 cupcakes a month. Let your team know that their jobs are secure and that you are bringing in extra help for the Groupon offer only and you’ll be letting the temporary help go after the offer expires. Also let your team know that you’ll be treating them to something special after the offer expires as a thank you for their assistance during the busy time.
Give a coupon or book of coupons for repeat business.
With each Groupon offer that you fulfill, include a coupon or book of coupons for special offers that you will be having on your own over the course of the next year. This will cost you very little and the payoff can be huge! Get creative with the offers such as buy one get one, refer a friend and get half off, buy 2 get 3rd free and so on. By extending the specials over the course of the year, there are many ways for that customer to return to you. Most customers will only take you up on one or two coupons through the course of the year.
Check back for more ideas in the second part of this article which will appear in a few days.