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Daily Deals May Not Be So Profitable for Merchants

Just over half of businesses that run daily deal promotions report making a profit, with less than 50 percent willing to try again.

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Daily deal sites like Groupon end up being profitable for only about half of participating merchants.Do daily deal coupons sometimes seem too good to be true? For the businesses offering them, they often are.

In a survey by The Social Science Research Network of over 320 businesses that have participated in a daily deal promotion in the last year and a half, fewer than half of the businesses said they would run another deal in the future, with only 55 percent reporting that they made money.

The survey, covering deal sites Groupon, LivingSocial, OpenTable, Travelzoo and BuyWithMe Promotions, noted that nearly 73 percent of businesses expressed no loyalty to the sites and would consider trying another deal site for future promotions.

More than a quarter of the businesses involved lost money, and 18 percent just broke even. With only 20 percent of customers returning for future purchases, a lot of owners are contemplating the real worth behind the deal.

Even though nearly 80 percent of purchases come from new customers, 60 percent of customers only spent the amount that the deal was worth, creating no extra revenue for businesses. With most deal sites taking a cut of the sales profits (averaging 30 to 50 percent), businesses heavily rely on customers either spending more money or returning in the future.

Among the largest group to run daily deals, bars and restaurants and salons and spas fared the worst, with only 43 percent and 53 percent earning a profit off the deal, respectively.

Another hard-hitting figure? Merchants spent an average of 23 percent (or $46,530) of their annual marketing budget on daily deals, an expense difficult to justify for only a marginally profitable deal promotion.

Tags: BuyWithMe, daily deal merchants, Groupon, LivingSocial. OpenTable, News, Social Science Research Network, Travelzoo

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