团购新模式破解“一锤子”买卖难题

    团购网站最近几个月过得不大顺心。两年前，社交定位网站FourSquare和团购网站Groupon这样的公司还籍籍无名，如今基本上已成了家喻户晓的品牌。随着关注而来的，还有猛烈的批评：Groupon颇具创造新的会计方法大受攻击，一些消费者和小商户也表达了不满，认为团购服务并没有吹嘘的那么好。事实证明，要在各方利益之间取得平衡——给商户省钱，让消费者得实惠，服务提供商也得有可持续的商业模式——是一个相当复杂的问题。然而，规模较小的SCVNGR公司却认为，它已经找到了答案。

    这家位于马萨诸塞州剑桥市的公司正在积极推广其新产品LevelUp，增加用户基础。该产品对团购模式作了一些调整，用户在某个商家消费的越多，所获得的积分和奖励也就越多。其首席执行官赛斯•普瑞巴什称，该产品已经准备好迎来更大发展。经过一个夏季的测试，LevelUp已经在波士顿和费城与约500家商户进行过合作。如今，这家网站进入了纽约市和旧金山，这里是消息灵通、喜爱折扣优惠的用户的圣地。

    这项服务的理念很简单：用户免费注册后，将一张信用卡或借记卡与账户挂钩。随后，用户在合作商家购物时，可以扫描具有特定代码的智能手机。用户首次使用该服务就可以获得优惠，比如说10美元的折扣。这比其他团购网站有什么改进呢？用户如果再次回到同一商家消费的话，获得的积分就会更多，而且在这一过程中可以查阅积分状况。这样做的目的很明确，就是让用户成为回头客。对Groupon、FourSquare用户及相关商家来说，这是个习惯性的大问题。

    这家公司称，这种模式是“逆向优惠”和“动态进展”。它很大程度上是为了让商家满意。普瑞巴什称，LevelUp测试期间，45%的用户在30天内会再次回到特定商家进行消费，并支付全价，这一数字远远高于他对竞争对手的估计。（普瑞巴什声称，Groupon带来的回头客比例只有1-2%。由于Groupon正处于上市前的静默期，因此拒绝就此发表评论。）SCVNGR还表示，更重要的是，这些回头客后来提高了消费额，增幅高达38%，超出赢得奖励所要求的额度。该公司还称，其用户平均给服务员21%的小费，略高于15-18%的普通水平。LevelUp认为，自己已经解决了Groupon合作商家经常抱怨的问题，即用户买了一次折扣商品之后，就永远不再光顾了。

    Daily deals firms have had a rough few months. Barely known two years ago, companies like FourSquare and Groupon are now practically household names. With the attention has come a barrage of criticism: Groupon's creative accounting came under fire amid a backlash from some consumers and small businesses that claim the services aren't all they're cracked up to be. Indeed, getting the right mix -- savings for merchant, rewards for consumer, and a sustainable business model for providers – has proved complicated. Smaller rival SCVNGR thinks it's found the answer.

    The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company is expanding access to its new product LevelUp, a twist on the daily deals scheme that offers credits and rewards the more users spend at a given merchant. CEO Seth Priebatsch says the product is ready for prime time. Today, after a summer testing phase with some 500 merchants in Boston and Philadelphia, LevelUp hits New York City and San Francisco –meccas of connected, deal-savvy users.

    The concept is simple: users sign up for free, linking a credit or debit card to their account. Then, when shopping at participating merchants, they can scan a smart phone with a unique code. Users get credit the first time they use it, say a $10 discount toward their purchase. The improvement over other daily deals? Going back to the same store repeatedly earns users' even more credits, displaying progress along the way. The incentive is clear, to keep users coming back -- a habitual problem that has had Groupon and FourSquare users and merchant crying foul.

    The company calls this its "inverted deal" and progression dynamic. It's largely aimed at keeping merchants happy. Priebatch says that, during LevelUp's pilot program, 45% of customers returned to a given merchant within 30 days to pay for something full price, higher than his estimates for rival services (Priebatch claims Groupon, which is in its quiet period and declined to comment, only brings back 1% to 2%). What's more, the company claims that users increase their spend by 38% on the transactions that put them over the top for earning a reward. The company also boasts that its average consumer tips waiters 21%, slightly above the normal range of about 15-18%. LevelUp thinks it's solved the common complaint of Groupon merchants that users buy one discounted product and walk away for good.