Group Buy Guy

“FREE MONEY”

 
Group Buy Guy is a HUGE fan of Daily Deal sites for one reason and one reason only; “FREE MONEY.”  Getting a nice discount on things you already need or want is awesome, but at the same time Group Buy Guy ain’t no sucka’. 

I just got off the phone with a girlfriend who is getting laser hair removal treatment on her eyebrows.  She came across a daily deal offering that she called a “ridiculously” low price and “had to do it.”  Now I flat out told her she was crazy.  First for being lame enough to get laser treatments… there’s kids sleeping on the streets for crying out loud!   And second for getting sold.  She readily admitted not planning on getting laser treatment and just thought it was such a great price she couldn’t pass it up.     

How is this free money?   It’s not.  You cannot measure free money based on a sale price or one time discount.  Free money comes when you get a deal on something you intended to buy in the first place.  The greatest sale price in the world still cost money.

The reality is we need to work as a community.  We need to act as if we’re a large organization.  We need to group together to achieve sustained discounts on the products and services we’re loyal to.  For example, if a merchant were to give me a reasonable discount on the aloe toilet paper I enjoy (yeah I went there) I’d be a customer for life… And that’s "FREE MONEY."

Change the world, Group Buy Guy

 

Dysfunctional Group Buy Family

Recently, I found my sister site www.groupbuygirl.com, and like any dysfunctional family I wanted to pull her hair out upon reading her diary of love and affection for www.Groupon.com.  Her disclaimer clearly states she does not work for them.  So she must be the captain of the Groupon cheerleading squad.   She even goes as far as calling herself “Groupon Girl” on Facebook  (http://www.facebook.com/GrouponGirl).  Ugh...

Now I’ll readily admit Group Buy Girl is much prettier than me and has many more friends.  Her personality is upbeat and fun.  She has cool colors and pictures to look at.  She has all the tools at her disposal and is most likely laughing at my puny comments.  Frankly, I don’t blame her. 

I am younger than she and my immaturity shows… no twitter (http://twitter.com/#!/groupbuyguy) or Facebook (http://tinyurl.com/63fqv47) connections on my blog; at least not yet.  No RSS feeds or email links ([email protected]).  I hardly have any followers or likes at all, and my current blog page is downright ugly... maybe I was adopted.

Still, we have one glaring fact in common.  We love great deals!  It must be in the genes.  With that in mind she has surpassed me once again.  She offers you Groupon type deals in all their glory and she does a very good job of it.  I’m impressed and will be a loyal follower from this day forth.  On the other hand, I have offered nothing but a few sites to check out and a rambling blog about the disconnection between great coupons and sustained volume discounts. 

To that I say- “DON’T GIVE UP ON ME BIG SIS!!!“ Group Buy Guy is working on some real Group Buy deals based on volume not coupons.  Follow me on Twitter.  Like me on Facebook.  Sign up for RSS feed someday and email me anytime.  I promise not to let you down!  You will soon see deals that will impress… well… you.  Perhaps we can change the world together… one deal at a time. 

Lovingly, Group Buy Guy

“Daily Deal Sites Are Unstable”

It seems some people are catching on.  Group Buy Guy posted articles on twitter over the past week.  A few showcase how Daily Deal sites such as Groupon.com and LivingSocial.com are unstable and will have to adjust to make real merchant and consumer behaviors change.  

Most notable is the fact that promotions based strictly on price rarely create lasting relationships with consumers.  In reality, they tend to make consumers permanently price sensitive.   Lowering the price consumers expect to pay can distract consumers from the service or product benefits; thereby damaging the merchant brand, in some cases forever. 

Bottom line--$30 massages won’t last forever unless consumers continuously go to different merchants for service.  If we want to change the way consumers interface with merchants for products and services we have to look at a Volume not Discount structure (see “Discount is BS – Volume is KING” blog post 03/21/11).

Change the world, Group Buy Guy

Daily Deal Sites – why Group Buy Guy is a HUGE Fan!

Group Buy Guy likes to save money like everyone else.  So if you tell me for the price of receiving a daily email I can get significant discounts on things I’m already doing, attending, buying or thinking about doing, attending, or buying--I’m in.  Unlike those mortgage guy’s on the radio “this deal is the biggest no brainer in the history of man-kind.” 

In fact, I’ve signed up for all of them and then some (see “Social Buying Universe” blog post 03/11/11). 

Here’s a few not listed that I enjoy:

If you own a small business check out: http://www.groupprice.com/

If you like golf check out:  https://deals.golfon.com/publishers/261/consumers/presignup (

This one is still growing, but if you like to drink keep an eye on: http://boozbucks.com/

The other day I got $20 for $10 at my local Kebab shop.  My wife and I eat there all the time so it was like free money... “FREE MONEY!”  And this my friends is why Group Buy Guy loves daily deal sites! 

Discount is BS – Volume is KING

The big misconception consumers have about group buying is this: a discount is the goal.  This is utter and complete BS!  It is exactly what the BIG BOX companies wants you to think, and if they have their way, it will keep Group Buying in the "coupon and advertising" mold forever.  Screw that!  We’re changing the world here and those corporate brands are going to have to pay up or shut up.

You'd be amazed at how often a big box store will negotiate, especially for high priced items.  All you have to do is ask.  Couple that with your everyday coupon and the current so-called group buying phenomenon becomes something you: A) don’t need a group for and B) will be a short lived fad. 

How do we take control of what could be the greatest opportunity of this young decade?!  We recognize that volume is KING and drives the beginning stages of the retail process.  With volume on our side we DO NOT deal with the BIG BOXES.  We go around, better yet, we walk right past them and go directly to the manufacturers, distributors, and suppliers.  We create co-ops for services and we negotiate as a group for the very best cost possible on products.  With volume we take control of our dollars.     

More to come on all of this as we change the world!

 

“What the hell is Group Buying?”

What is Group Buying?! One thing is for sure, little of what is being marketed as “group buying” on the web is actual group buying.

Sites like Groupon.com (www.groupon.com) and Livingsocial.com (www.livingsocial.com) are NOT… I repeat NOT... group buying sites.  They are, in fact, local advertising sites that have cleverly marketed themselves as ”group buy” sites.  Don’t get me wrong, GroupBuyGuy is a HUGE fan, but we’ll get into that in another blog. 

The important thing to understand is that people like us can and will save a ton of money if we begin to think of ourselves as a large connected community of purchasers, or better yet, one large company.  The product is secondary to our demands for lower prices and/or better service.  The power of group buying comes from the volume not discount.  This is an important thing to recognize and will be discussed in more detail in the coming blog: “Discount is BS – Volume is KING”. 

In the meantime, get ready to change the world and tell the corporate BIG BOXES to eat it. 

 

 

 

The Social Buying Universe

The growth and potential for future growth in this industry is outstanding:  http://www.flowtown.com/blog/the-social-buying-universe

 

Group Buy Guy

GroupBuyGuy is dedicated to creating the volume needed to change the world and rock the foundation of our current “BIG BOX” market.  It’s time to take some of that money out of the corporate coffers and put it back into our pockets.  How will we do this?  I haven’t a clue, but we’re going to find out together and make it happen.