We previously speculated about how Twitter deals might be promoted through the @Earlybird account using a group buying model. However, as it turned out, Twitter is merely partnering with group buying sites like Groupon and Gilt to deliver time-sensitive discounts on products with limited quantities. Unfortunately, Twitter’s initial promotions weren’t exactly killer deals. The first one was a buy one, get one free movie ticket for The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and the other deal offering was for a 32-inch Vizio HDTV at Target. Depending on how much you may have disliked the movie, the TV is the worst deal out of the two since it could have been purchased at Sam’s Club for $1.99 less ($349.99 at Target, $348.00 at Sam’s). Read more »

Twitter appears to have just adopted either a daily deals, flash sales, or group buying business model. They recently announced a newly created Twitter account called @Earlybird that will be used to promote “time-sensitive and sometimes supply-sensitive” products and services. These Woot-like daily deals will be created through a partnership with merchants to make huge savings available to followers of Twitter’s @Earlybird account. Twitter plans to offer both local deals and category based discount offers (e.g. fashion, music). “We’re starting with US-wide offers but will explore location-based deals in the future.” Read more »

Online group buying has taken the business world by storm with the number of group buying sites growing every day. Previously we discussed the possibility of Facebook entering the group buying business to create a Facebook versus Groupon scenario. Facebook has yet to adopt collective buying but its largest client, Zynga, has already implemented the group buying business model with great success. Zynga’s popular social game, YoVille, is now offering 50% off regularly priced game items for players that sign-up for the deal. Read more »

Groupon is one of the fastest growing collective buying sites in the U.S. thanks to its incredible popularity, a very lucrative business model, and several large rounds of funding. It has found great success with Facebook users who feverishly share its daily deal offerings with one another. Upon securing its latest round of funding Groupon’s valuation was estimated to be $1.2 billion and at the time Groupon was only available in ~40 cities throughout the United States. With the wind at its back and almost nothing to fear, Groupon’s future looks quite promising. Despite its momentum, Groupon could soon be facing an incredible threat if Facebook decides to expand its business-to-business services. Read more »

Facebook ecommerce apps and storefronts permit users to add custom shopping carts to their fan pages or profiles in order to directly sell on Facebook. Social networks like Facebook are no longer used for merely uploading photo albums, or checking the status updates of your friends. E-commerce has evolved with social networking platforms to form social commerce solutions that can embrace the real-time social Web. Facebook storefront applications offer lots of new opportunities for business owners that want to expand and promote their online stores. In the review list below we’ve identified some of the best Facebook ecommerce applications to help you sell on Facebook. Read more »

Group buying websites, also known as collective buying sites, like Groupon are attractive to local small business owners because they possess the group buying power to generate hundreds to tens of thousands of sales from new customers within a single day. They are able to do this by convincing their clients (local merchants) to offer incredible discounts that are greater than half-off the original price, incentivizing the sharing of group buying deals, using a countdown timer and limited quantities to create a sense of urgency for purchasing deals, and by permitting users to buy and exchange the deal vouchers as gifts. Local business owners also like using this form of promotion because they can accurately measure its effectiveness when customers redeem their vouchers. A typical response from several past Groupon clients suggests that most businesses merely break even but is this really true? Read more »

Groupon and other popular group buying sites are very effective at generating hundreds to tens of thousands of new sales for a business owner in just one day. Group buying websites are able attain such impressive sale numbers by partnering with merchants that discount a product or service by at least 50%-off the original retail price. Group coupon vouchers are sold directly from the group buying site which can later be redeemed at the merchant’s place of business. With Groupon taking a 50% cut of each voucher that’s sold, the total expense of attaining those sales from a merchant’s standpoint can be quite overwhelming. Read more »

New group buying sites are springing up every day to compete with the largest and most profitable group buying business known as Groupon. Groupon harnesses the collective buying power of its large user base to offer huge discounts on local services and products via their daily email delivered group buying deals. Groupon has a huge lead on most of the competitors but with nearly 100 group buying websites already launched, one has to wonder if Groupon can maintain its dominance indefinitely. As the group buying business model evolves, merchant-friendly add-on platforms may be born to serve the needs of local business owners and eliminate third-party group buying service providers. Read more »

Private sales sites and members-only online shopping clubs are able to offer huge discounts on brand name products and services for a fraction of the manufacturer’s suggested retail price. Most of these private online shopping clubs simply purchase excess inventory directly from the manufacturer and slightly raise the price of the merchandise to make a profit. To the manufacturer, these private shopping clubs are particularly desired because the exclusive nature of these sites do not negatively impact the brand’s image from a consumer’s standpoint. We’ve compiled a review list of some of the top online shopping clubs for attaining large savings on brand name products below. Read more »

Group buying is a somewhat new win-win online shopping strategy for both consumers and local businesses. Group buying sites like Groupon and Living Social gather large numbers of consumers to leverage group buying power in an effort to attain huge discounts by partnering with local merchants. A minimum number of purchases is required to activate the daily deal otherwise the deal is off and no group buying member’s credit card is charged. Besides the huge savings, what makes group buying particularly attractive for merchants is that it is a very effective way of getting new customers to try their products and services. Read more »