The Next Best Deal with Groupon

With the way the economy is now, people are trying to save as much money as possible, so when there is a chance to save at least 50% off of a regular price, people are going to jump at it!  Now there are multiple different websites where people can go and sign up to receive information about the next big deal, the only catch is that they have to give the website their email address and if they like the deal that is being offered then they have to buy it in order to receive the coupon.  It seems like there are only a few big players out there that consumers prefer to use, such as Groupon or LivingSocial.

Groupon was the one to pioneer this new marketing technique.  They were the first people heard of in order to receive a big deal on a daily basis.  Google had even tried to buyout Groupon in the past, but they did not agree to the sale.  Groupon is in over 500 markets and 44 countries.  The only problem that Groupon has is that it's business plan was so easy for others to replicate.  With that being said, there has been many other companies that have joined this area of business of the daily business deal and are trying to beat out Groupon.  Essentially these companies are trying to beat Groupon with its own business model. Although there are many imitators, Groupon still continues to do well.  In fact, they are doing so well that they are in talks with banks about an Initial Public Offering (IPO) that would make Groupon be worth $25 billion.  Talk about a big increase since Google offered them $6 billion, it looks like Groupon made the right decision to not sell to Google!

One of the major competitors that Groupon faces is LivingSocial.

When looking at LivingSocial's website, they claim to be "the fastest-growing company in the social-buying category," but they don't give much information about how their company differentiates itself from others, like Groupon.  I think its for that reason that people often don't just use LivingSocial, but they use multiple daily deal websites to get the most options for deals.  If you think about, if you don't have to buy a membership to either website, then why limit yourself to only one when you could get double the amount of coupons!

If having to check for the deals on your email doesn't sound great, you have the ability with both websites to download the app on your iPhone and have the deals pushed to your phone daily.  This way, both websites offer as much convenience as possible with their coupons, so that in the end you will buy more!

Sources:

http://www.groupon.com/about

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/groupon-said-in-talks-on-possible-25-billion-ipo-2011-03-17

http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/15/technology/foursquare_revenue/index.htm

http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2011/03/25/surging-groupon-faces-intense-competition

http://livingsocial.com/deals/how_it_works

http://livingsocial.com/about

Forget Your Wallet, Use Your Phone!

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about how Starbucks had added an app for iPhones and BlackBerry's to be able to pay by phone.  Well, now Google is coming out with a Near Field Communication (NFC) Android phone that will enable you to pay anywhere with any card method of payment.  The new phone will let you pay for items without having to make any contact due to the short-range wireless capabilities in the hardware.
Not only can the new phones give out the sales information, but they can also download information that would help marketers advertise and collect data to know if you bought the item after receiving an advertisement, which would help advertisers on Google be able to know that they are getting their moneys worth of advertising on Google.  The phone also makes it so that you can instantly receive location-specific information.

Another new item that has come up to use your phone with is to have your boarding pass be on your phone, instead of having to carry around and keep up with your paper one.  This is essentially like the way Starbucks uses to have you be able to pay by phone.  On your phone, you would be using a 2-D barcode that the TSA would then authenticate by scanning.  The 2-D barcode contains information such as the passengers name and flight number.  This would help convenience many travelers, so that they no longer have to worry about the paper tickets.  Imagine never having to hold a ticket again!

Although they say that using the pay by phone with Google would be perfectly safe to use, I tend to worry more about hackers and would rather not replace my credit cards with my phone.  However, whenever I travel, I constantly worry about losing my boarding pass, so this is definitely a very convenient option.
In my opinion, if you are going to use your phone to replace your credit cards in the future, you should always use a password to help protect your phone.  Whenever your personal information goes electronic, there is always the worry of hacking and identity theft.  Also, you always have to worry about the potential of losing your phone, so that is the main reason for the password!


Sources:
http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/176_58/google-nfc-payments-1034953-1.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/210861/what_googles_nfc_android_phones_will_mean_for_you.html
http://www.tsa.gov/approach/tech/paperless_boarding_pass_expansion.shtm

Help Turn Around Myspace

With all the hype surrounding Facebook, has anyone been using Myspace anymore?

Well I sure haven't been and today I finally logged into my account and I was so confused with all of the changes that Myspace has made.  The way they have changed their website now, it is not user-friendly at all.  For example, it took me about 5 minutes to find how to log out of the website.

Although there are many things that users don't like about Myspace, there are ways that Myspace can help increase their number of users.  The main way is for Myspace to help integrate with other social networking websites, such as Facebook.  It appears that Myspace already allows some integration when it comes to setting up a new profile.  According to Myspace.com, "To help save you time setting up your profile (and give you more of the things you love), we can pull your interests (like movies, music, and celebs) and public profile info (name, email, gender, birth date, and photo) from Facebook and automatically add and follow them on your Myspace profile."  So, it appears that Myspace is trying, but it isn't really enough to make it work for them.


Another thing that Myspace could do is to make the site more user-friendly.  Like I said in the beginning, it took me a long time to figure out how to use their "updated" website.  I think that it alienates the previous users that decide to log into their account after a long time of not using it.  The harder the website is to use, the less likely people are to use it!  Below is a chart comparison of Facebook users versus Myspace users in 2008 - 2009.

As you can see from above, there is a significant increase of Facebook users and about the amount of Myspace users has been pretty steady with a slight decline.  The chart clearly shows how much more successful that Facebook is than Myspace.  I believe that all of this comes back to user-friendliness.  It is so easy to use Facebook because everything is laid out nicely, whereas with Myspace you have to search pretty hard to figure out how to do the simplest of things.


These are just two ideas that I came up with for Myspace to do.  Ultimately it comes down to how much advertising that Myspace can do in order to increase usage, but it won't increase unless something is done to make Myspace more user-friendly.  Being able to sync with the social media websites that are available would be able to increase usage because people will see using the website as very convenient.  The more convenient and easy a website is to use, the more users the website will have.  This is very much so the case with social media and the main reason why Facebook and Twitter are so popular.




Sources:
http://www.myspace.com/


http://techcrunch.com/2009/05/18/myspace-is-in-real-trouble-if-these-page-view-declines-dont-reverse/

E-Marketing and the Consumer Buying Decision Process

To figure out how these two things are connected, you first have to know what the consumer buying decision process is.  There are many different definitions of what the process involves, but according to ehow.com, the process involves 5 steps.

Step 1: Problem Recognition
In this step, consumers figure out what their problem or need is.  This triggers the consumer to want to buy something that would involve fixing the problem or satisfying the need.

Step 2: Information Search
The consumer then takes the problem/need and starts searching for ways to fix/satisfy it.  They either go to friends for help, remember what they used the last time to fix/satisfy their problem/need, search the internet, or go off of TV commercials.

Step 3: Alternative Evaluation
The consumer then sees all the choices that are available to fix/satisfy the problem/need and starts to figure out which product would be right for him/her.  At this step, the consumer needs to evaluate the alternatives based on the qualities that are important to them.

Step 4: Purchase Decision
The consumer takes all the knowledge that was learned in the other steps and now makes a decision about which product to choose.  Once the consumer has chosen which product then they have to choose where to buy the product.  It could be a store that they go to all the time or just simply which store has the product for the cheapest amount of money.

Step 5: Post-Purchase Behavior
The consumer has now bought the product and used it.  This is the point where the consumer determines how they feel about the product and the brand sometimes.  The consumer determines if the product has done its job of fixing/satisfying the problem/need.  The consumer determines if they are satisfied or unsatisfied about the product and whether or not they would recommend the product to their friends.  To me, the post-purchase behavior is one of the most important steps when it comes to gaining or losing business.

Now that each step is explained, I can talk about how e-marketing comes into and is involved with each step.  I mean, what is involved with a consumer needing some product?  Marketing is the one thing that influences the consumer to want or need a product by showing them what the product is and how it can be used and make the life of the consumer easier or more enjoyable.  In my opinion, the key to marketing is exposure.  It seems like the more you expose consumers to a product or brand name, the more it sticks in their head so when they are at the store they want your brand or product.  E-marketing is all about exposing consumers to goods or services in a very convenient way for the consumer.  E-marketing is all over every website there is.  Sometimes its as simple as a link at the bottom or its as complex as a video commercial on a webpage.  This subliminally exposes the consumer to all of these different brands so that subconsciously the consumer learns the brand or product name and chooses it when they go to buy an item.

When a consumer goes to do research for step 2, they normally look online to get the most information in the shortest amount of time possible.  When the consumer goes to a search engine, they type in what they are looking for and then hit the search button.  When the searches show up, they start from the top and go down, so normally they use the first couple links that are available.  Well, the order of the links is all a part of e-marketing.  The companies usually put in keywords in order to be able to have their link come up in a search.  The closer your search comes to the keywords, the higher up the link is in the search.  Also, while your looking at one webpage, you see a link that is relevant and click on it and all of a sudden your at a products webpage learning more information about one brand's product.  All of the ads on the side of the website are all a part of e-marketing.  This all goes back to my point that e-marketing is most concerned with exposure.

How does a consumer normally get information about the alternatives is all in a search online.  If the product is made by a small company, the consumer normally does not find it unless a store happens to have the product on the shelves by the other alternatives.  This is starting to show how step 3 has e-marketing involved.  For example, when I looked to buy a new camera, I used cnet.com, which gives products reviews and prices.  If they don't like a product after they have given it through their series of tests, then I won't buy it.  This is a part of e-marketing.  Cnet.com is saying which products are best to use, which is a very good or bad thing for companies because they don't have to pay for the advertising, but instead they get free publicity for their product.  It is good for companies who make and sell products that are of good quality that pass the tests that cnet.com puts their products through.  On the other hand, the companies that don't have products that measure up, they get very bad publicity for their products and have a hard time making up the difference because it is way harder to overcome a bad review than it is to overcome a demeaning ad.

E-marketing just goes on from there because to choose a product you are going off of what you find out about it and what you have seen about the product.  Whether you see ads for it on social media networks or off of other websites, you still have to get the information some way and it usually is from the internet.  Even when you go off of a friend/family members recommendation for a product, you don't know how they got their information to begin with.  Whether they did a lot of research to figure out the best product or if they went from just seeing the product in different situations.

Any way you look at the buying decision process, you will see that e-marketing is involved in every step of the process.  I do have to say this one little disclaimer, when using the internet for information about a product you should always make sure its from a trusted website and not just from one persons opinion.  It is always better to get multiple opinions about a product before making a decision.



Sources:
http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5438201_consumer-buying-decision-process.html
http://marketing.about.com/od/internetmarketingstrategy/Internet_Marketing_Strategy.htm
http://www.cnet.com/

Forget your Starbucks card, just pay by iPhone!

Have you ever been out and wanting a coffee from Starbucks, but forgot your Starbucks card?  

Your problem has been solved with the new app from Starbucks to be able to pay for your purchases via your iPhone or BlackBerry.  This app makes it very simple for you to get your Starbucks fix and not have to worry about how you are going to pay for it!

In order to use the app, you have to enter in your Starbucks card number and then you are ready to go!  To update money onto the card, you just have to enter in your PayPal or major credit card information.  I mean lets face it, how often do you lose track of membership, loyalty, or gift cards? Well if your like me, then you misplace them a lot or you just forget that you have them.  With having the convenience of an app on my phone then it means that it is one less card that I have to keep up with!  Also, it means that it is one less card that I have to keep in my wallet or in my purse.  My purse and wallet are both cluttered up with loyalty cards from different stores because they all offer rewards of some sort and they are free, so why not join each loyalty program if it means that I get discounts in the future.  This app makes it to where I can join the loyalty program and be able to keep the actual card safe in my home and not have to worry about losing it or other people getting a hold of it or.

Starbucks is being a huge trendsetter by starting off with this pay-by-phone app.  They are paving the way for other companies or stores to start using this method, so that you have more people using the Starbucks cards than using regular credit cards or cash.  In the end, don't companies want more people using their specific cards?  Starbucks is simply adjusting to the new lifestyle where no one is leaving their homes without their cellphones with them.  I believe that whomever came up with this idea is a genius because they are getting all of the publicity for this brand new style of payment that any company that starts using this idea for themselves will never get.  All over the U.S. this payment style is being used in Starbucks stores, as well as in the Starbucks kiosks that are in Target stores.

Although payment and reloading the card are the great features with this app, you can also keep track your stars for your My Starbucks Rewards, find the nearest Starbucks, check card balance and view transaction history! Any way you look at it, the Starbucks Card Mobile App, is an adaptive change for the growing needs of us, the consumers!  Starbucks has literally changed the way we pay, by adding this app for our mobile phones to make it easier for us to spend money in their stores.  I believe that other major companies will start to look into how to create an app like this for themselves, if they haven't yet.  Like it or not, Starbucks has realized how likely we are to carry around our mobile phones with us into the store when compared to us carrying in a Starbucks card.  We get the convenience of an iPhone or BlackBerry app and they, in turn, get more consumers using their Starbucks cards!

Sources:

http://www.cnet.com/8301-17918_1-20015440-85.html?tag=mncol;txt

http://www.starbucks.com/coffeehouse/mobile-apps/starbucks-card-mobile

http://macapper.com/2011/01/22/starbucks-mobile-payments-for-iphone-and-ipod-touch-now-nationwide/