团购网站处境不妙

    反对每日优惠团购服务的声音愈演愈烈。本周新发表支持的一项学术研究显示，使用过类似服务后，近一半的商家都表示不会再使用第二次。

    美国莱斯大学(Rice University)管理学教授乌特帕•多拉基亚开展的这项调查发现，近80% 使用优惠券的都是新顾客，其中仅20% 会变转变为回头客。提供折扣的网站不乏包括团购网站Groupon、LivingSocia（美国第二大团购网站——译注） 和餐饮预定网站OpenTable。其他公司，如谷歌（Google）等，也瞄准了这一市场。

    每日优惠团购服务的市场目的在于薄利多销，用低价和折扣吸引顾客跨进消费的门槛。因为在理论上，顾客应该会购买其它更多产品或再次光顾。但是多拉基亚教授发现仅36%的顾客会购买除了打折产品以外的产品和服务。更糟糕的是，购买全价产品的回头客不足20%。

    该项研究与Groupon在本月上旬申请上市期间发布的数据基本吻合。竞争者蜂拥而至（其中不乏Facebook和亚马逊（Amazon）等商业巨头），加上越来越多的小型商家越来越意识到促销并不会带来新业务的显著增长，导致团购市场形势日趋严峻。

    多拉基亚教授在报告中写到：“未来几年，团购网站与商家的盈利分成将会降低；此外要找到愿意提供折扣的商家会变得更加困难，成本也会更高。”

    多拉基亚教授的调查共涉及324个商家，这些商家从2009年8月至2011年3月通过Groupon、LivingSocial、BuyWithMe （美国第三大团购网站）OpenTable和旅游折扣网站TravelZoo等五家折扣网站提供了打折的产品和服务。

    The growing backlash against daily-deals services got some fresh support this week from an academic study finding that fewer than half of the companies that use such services once are unlikely to do so a second time.

    The study, by Utpal Dholakia, professor of management at Rice University, also found that nearly 80% of coupon users are first-timers, and only 20% of them become repeat customers of businesses offering deals through services like Groupon, LivingSocial and OpenTable (OPEN). Other companies like Google (GOOG) are actively eyeing the space.

    The whole idea behind these services is that they act as loss leaders, getting customers through the door to take advantage of a bargain. Theoretically, many customers will either spend beyond the deal offer or return for more business. But Dholakia found that just 36% of customers buy goods or services beyond what was offered in the deal. Worse, less than 20% return to the business for full-price purchases.

    The findings generally align with the data Groupon released earlier this month when it filed to go public. As competitors pile into the market – some of them huge, like Facebook and Amazon (AMZN) – the business will only get tougher, especially if perception grows among small companies that daily deals don't generate much new business.

    "Over the next few years," Dholakia wrote, "it is likely that daily deal sites will have to settle for lower shares of revenues from businesses compared to their current levels, and it will be harder and more expensive for them to find viable candidates to fill their pipelines of daily deals."

    Dholakia surveyed 324 businesses that offered deals from August 2009 to March 2011 from five coupon services: — Groupon, LivingSocial, OpenTable, BuyWithMe and TravelZoo.