The Billion $ Online Biz of 2011

Are willing to be known as a discounter?

Or would you rather be known for your value?

The past couple years we have the growth of Groupon and other daily deal web sites which have had mixed results.

According to this survey from Mediapost, this type of promotion is popular with consumers.

But I worry about the long term sustainability of these promotions for an individual business.

See, the more we train consumers to only buy when something is on sale, the more fickle those consumers are likely to be. But I'll write more about that another time...

Daily Deals Anticipated By Consumers

According to research from Yahoo! Mail and Ipsos OTX MediaCT, reported by EMarketer, consumers will not quickly tire of the daily deal websites and mailing offerings, nor the rush of established online companies like Google and Facebook to get into everyday promotions. In March, BIA/Kelsey predicted US daily deal site revenues would reach $1.25 billion this year.

The February 2011 survey found that US adult internet users subscribe to an average of almost three daily or weekly shopping emails or newsletters, and 56% of internet users subscribe to at least two of the emails.

Subscribers also say they regularly read the emails. Among those who subscribe to at least two, 61% said they read all of the messages. And most access the emails at least once a day.

Frequency of US Internet Users (18-34) Accessing Daily Deal Emails or E-Newsletters (% of Respondents; February 2011)
Frequency	% of Respondents
Once a day	38%
Several times a day	22
A few times a week	23
Once a week	7
A few times a month	5
Once a month	1
Less than once a month	2
Never	2
Source: eMarketer (Yahoo! Mail, Ipsos Consumer Pulse, March 2011), April 2011

Most recipients of daily deal emails also pass along the messages to friends and family, though with less frequency. Less than a quarter passed messages along every day, and 45% did so at least weekly.

Frequency Of Forwarding Daily Deals To Friends Of Family (% Of Subscribers To Daily Deal Or E-newsletter; Feb 2011; Ages 18-64)
Frequency of Forwarding	% of Respondents
Several times a day	12%
Once a day	10
A few times a week	17
Once a week	6
Once a month	5
Less than once a month	14
Never	22
Source: eMarketer (Yahoo! Mail, Ipsos Consumer Pulse, March 2011), April 2011

More than six in 10 respondents reported subscribing to more of these emails now than last year, and nearly half were still excited enough about them that they said they "can't wait" to see the latest deals in the messages.

The survey also found that for most consumers, daily deal emails are appearing in their main inbox. Just 27% of internet users said they had a separate email account for such offers, further reinforcing the perception among subscribers that these emails are desirable and relevant.

For additional information, please visit eMarketer here.

Sphere: Related Content