VietNamNet Bridge – Hundreds of Groupon websites mushroomed in
the golden age, but a lot of the websites have shut down quietly, which shows
the big problems of the model in Vietnam.
Groupon means sale-off channel?
Groupon has become more and more
popular to Vietnamese, especially office workers, who are always next to
computers and do not have much time to go shopping. Hundreds of websites were
set up, offering the attractive discounts of 50-80 percent to lure more buyers.
There is a principle that many
groupon websites followed that “raising the original price, lowering the quality
and quantity and offering high discounts.” A lot of consumers imagined that
they could buy good products at reasonable prices. However, in fact, there was
no big gap between the prices consumers enjoy from groupon websites and the
market prices.
However, consumers later found
out that they were swindled, and that groupon is just a channel for
distributors to sell low quality products. And they have said goodbye to the
groupon websites. Especially, many of them have called on to say “no” to the
e-commerce mode.
As a result, the deals which
really have high quality have been ignored, while the businesses which plan to
follow authentic business strategies still dare not join the market.
Even groupon websites’
administrators have realized that they have suffered from their wrong business
strategies. Since they only tried to offer high discounts, they have created a
new class of customers who only hunt for the sale-off products, i.e. the
customers who only use services when they can enjoy discounts.
Of course, the customers do not
intend to become loyal customers of the enterprises. Meanwhile, the enterprises
have to work hard to serve the customers, while missing others who would be
ready to pay full prices for their services.
Once enterprises lose their loyal
clients, this means that they lose the prestige of the brands and the
opportunities for sustainable development.
A breakthrough needed
Vietnam, with 31 percent of
population accessing to Internet higher percentage of young consumers, is
believed to be the ideal market for new investors to develop the groupon model.
However, a lot of groupon
websites could not exist and had to leave the market, which should be a big
lesson for others. Consumers keep chilly to groupon model because they doubt
about the quality of products and the “virtual price discounts” offered by
enterprises.
Analysts have noted they cannot
see any noteworthy things which can differentiate ones from others and could
serve as their competitive edges. The only groupon website which is different
from others is dealdulich, simply because it focuses on selling tours in
Vietnam.
To date, most of the groupon
websites have been developing their business in the southern market, which is
considered a commercial hub with dynamic consumers.
How to exploit the groupon mode
so as to bring benefits to both clients and businesses is the question
enterprises have to think about.
Analysts have pointed out that
the most important thing that helps retain clients is not the low price of
products, but the high quality. Therefore, in order to attract customers,
groupon websites should strive for the principle “cutting expenses, maintaining
quality,” instead of “raising the original price, lowering the quality and
quantity and offering high discounts.”
The optimum purpose of groupong
websites should be attracting loyal clients instead of hunting for short term
clients.
Compiled by C. V
Business & Investment Opportunities
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