Shop Talk: Letters to the Editor
In this issue's Shop Talk department, we thought we'd share some "Letters to the Editor" we received over the past several months.
Re: Editor's Note, October 2010, Quick, Read THIS NOW
From my personal experience as a small business owner, I will not participate in one of these [daily-deal coupon promotion] again. The business offering the promotion — e.g., Groupon, LivingSocial — splits the coupon price with the business owner. For example, if the coupon is $40 for $80 worth of service/merchandise, the business owner gets $20 of the $40. While the business owner is wooed on the promise of bringing in all this new business, all it ends up being is a bunch of people coming to your website/business and spending exactly or as near as possible to the amount of the coupon and nothing else. That potential repeat customer or customer who will hopefully buy more than the value of the coupon never really materializes. Truth of the matter is they come in, they spend the exact amount of the coupon or as near to it as possible and they're never heard from again. At least this was my experience. This coupon business is disastrous for the small business owner, and could possibly put someone out of business instead of helping to grow the business. I definitely wouldn't participate in a coupon deal again. These deals are great for the consumer, but not so great for the business owner.
