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Pros
- Increased traffic through done-for-you marketing
- You get only engaged buyers coming to your site
- Leverage a huge online market Groupon has
- Opportunity to leverage the upsell package deals to increase your profits
Cons
- You’ll need to give massive discounts to buyers
- Groupon fee is quite high – it takes half of the discounted income from each sale
What is Groupon?
Launched in 2007 and based in Chicago, Groupon Merchant is an e-commerce advertising platform that drives online traffic to businesses. It’s an app that connects clients to your business, offering buyers daily deals and discounts.
Groupon Merchant’s primary mission is to help businesses customize their online marketing campaigns to reach a huge audience on the platform. The company has sold over 1.5 billion Groupons for large and small businesses worldwide and has over 26 million active customers worldwide.
How Does Groupon Merchant Center Work?
Groupon Merchant allows you to;
- Offer coupons to attract clients to your products or services.
- Pay a 50% fee of all Groupons sales at the end of the campaign.
- Get ready to buy clients visiting your site.
- Engage with the platform’s eager audience.
- Access the best decision-making tools and expertise.
- Grow and promote your business online.
- Create campaign ads for your business.
- Promote your campaigns through email, SEO, paid ads, and others.
- Redeem your payments easily.
Who is Groupon Merchant Best for?
Groupon Merchant is best for businesses looking to reach a wider audience by running online campaigns.
How Much You Can Earn With Groupon Merchant?
Groupon pays you 50% of the sales revenue generated at the end of the campaigns. For instance, if you use Groupon Merchant to promote your business and it generates $1500 revenue at the end of the campaign, you will be paid $750 and the other $750 goose to the company.
Groupon Merchant Benefits: What Does Groupon Merchant Offer?
Huge Audience
Groupon receives millions of visitors each month on its platform. You can use this as an advantage to promote your business and generate sales.
Target Market
Groupon has sophisticated algorithms that allow you to prioritize your target customers who are likely to buy your products and services.
Cross Channel Promotions
Apart from Groupon’s website, you can run your campaigns on social media, email, paid ads, or SEO to reach more customers.
Easy to Redeem Payments
It is easier and faster to redeem payments on Groupons.
What Small Businesses Work With Groupon?
Any business with an online presence can sign up to be merchants, including:
- Restaurants
- Travel, vacation, & accommodation facilities
- Beauty & Cosmetic products
- Fashion & accessories
- Home appliances
- Kitchenware
- Events
Groupon Merchant Requirements
To run campaigns on Groupon, you need to;
- Provide the business’s name and address.
- State the type of business you want to promote.
- Include the name of the business owner.
- State the type of campaign ad you want to run.
- Include the company’s active phone number and email address.
- Connect your bank account to your Groupon Merchant account.
Groupon Merchant Fees
There are no upfront costs to list and set up your Groupon Merchant Account. Additionally, it is free to run your marketing campaigns.
However, Groupon Merchant operates on a “pay-as-you-go” model, meaning you only pay for the results, not the listing. The platform will charge you a 50% fee for all your Groupon revenue at the end of the campaign.
Groupon Merchant Payout Terms and Options?
As a Groupon merchant, you’ll be paid via bank transfer. Groupon releases payments to merchants twice a month.
Here’s how you can find the invoices from your Groupon sales:
- First, log into your Groupon merchant account.
- Then, navigate to the “Remittance Center” tab.
- Next, find the CommerceInterface
- Here you’ll find all your invoices sorted out by different categories, including “Paid,” “Waiting For Payment,” “To Be Invoiced,” and “Deductions.”
Groupon Merchant Reviews: is Groupon Merchant Legit?
Groupon is a legit couponing site that helps you get your brand in front of its huge audience. It has a 4.0 rating on App Store, 3.3 rating on Google Play, 4.0 rating on Justuseapp, and a 2.3 rating on Trustpilot.
According to most customers, Groupon is one of the best online advertising platforms because of its huge actively engaged audience. Other customers also liked the company’s sophisticated algorithm feature that allows you to focus on your target market and generate sales.
Unfortunately, some customers complained of unreliable customer support. Overall, Groupon is legit and trustworthy.
What Are the Groupon Merchant Pros & Cons?
Groupon Merchant Pros
- Increased traffic through done-for-you marketing.
- Easy to redeem payments.
- Cross channel promotion.
- Actively engaged audience.
Groupon Merchant Cons
- You’ll need to give massive discounts to buyers.
- High sales fee; it takes half of the discounted income from each sale.
How Good is Groupon Merchant Support and Knowledge Base?
Groupon Merchant has a FAQ section and help pages with answered questions, articles, and blogs. You can also contact the support team via email or social media like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to get answers to some of your technical questions.
Groupon Merchant Review Verdict: is Groupon Merchant Worth It?
Groupon is a reliable online marketing platform that you can use to promote your business online. It has a huge audience, and it is easy to redeem payments and run campaign ads across different channels.
Moreover, it is free to get started on the platform, and you will be required to pay 50% of all your Groupon revenue at the end of the campaign period. So if you are a merchant, give Groupon a try.
When used in conjunction with upsells, great customer service, and user experience, Groupon Merchant is definitely the way to go to market both product and service-based businesses.
How to Start Earning With Groupon Merchant?
Step 1 – Make a Registration
- Fill out your details: name and contact information.
- Next comes your business details: name, type of business, socials, physical locations, etc.
- Once you’ve filled out the registration, submit the form and wait for approval from the admins. You’ll get an email from Groupon Support in case further information is required from you during the verification process.
- If everything you provide checks out, your Groupon Merchant Account will be activated in a couple of days, and you will be notified of your Merchant ID. All the login credentials and Merchant Dashboard access info will be sent to the email address you provided during registration form.
Step 2 – Create Your Groupon Campaign
This is done through the Groupon Deal Builder menu after your account has been created in Step 1.
Setting up your Groupon campaign is straightforward. You will need to decide how many new customers you want to bring in and tailor your Groupon campaign around that number.
Not too sure how to go about creating your first campaign?
Don’t Panic! Groupon representatives are always on hand to support you and walk you through the process so that you don’t get confused and freak out through the set-up.
Step 3 – Prepare Your Business & Staff
Create Awareness
Creating awareness of your campaign through your social media is a great way of building excitement among your followers and existing clients. If you think you may need more time to do this beforehand, make sure you set a launch date that’s a week or two in the future. This gives you time to get more people excited and ready for the campaign launch date.
Organize your Team
Make sure your order fulfillment process is geared up to start sending out your products as the orders stream in. If you are providing a service, get your team ready to receive bookings and reservations so that everything runs seamlessly when your clients start coming in.
Upsell Products and Sevices
Have everything ready if you plan to have upsells of related products and services. Also, make sure that your team members are well-briefed on the details. Remember, the upsells will buffer your revenues since the discounted main offer won’t count for much.
Step 4 – Celebrate Your Campaign’s Launch
Get ready for the orders! You will need someone on your team to be logged into the Groupon Merchant Center to keep track of the orders as they come in.
Ensure your customer service team is well-briefed and available throughout the campaign to answer orders or reservation scheduling queries.
Step 5 – Track Your Results Using Groupon Merchant Center
Throughout the campaign, you’ll be able to view statistics of your customer and sales metrics from the Groupon Merchant Center.
Everything related to your customer demographics is curated for you, including customers’:
- Age
- Gender
- Region
- And even the amount each customer spends
These stats are a goldmine of information to help you plan your business strategy beyond the campaign. You can also respond to feedback from your customers and build new relationships from the new connections you get.
Sites Like Groupon Merchant
Groupon | LivingSocial | Vagano | Woot | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Pricing per month | No Upfront fee | N/A | $25 (monthly subscription) | Starts at $1 (per item) |
Trial period | N/A | No free trial | 30 days | 30 days |
Best for | Running campaign ads | Travel advertising campaigns | Scheduling meetings | Product advertising |
Groupon Merchant vs. LivingSocial
Like Groupon, LivingSocial is a couponing platform that offers attractive daily deals to its buyers. Plus, it’s also easy to sign up as a merchant and get your first campaign up and running. However, unlike Groupon, LivingSocial focuses on travel and events industries, while Groupon Merchant Center has a diverse range of about seven different industry portfolios.
While Groupon has over 26 million active customers on its platform, LivingSocial has 70 million active members. Compared to Groupon, LivingSocial shares revenues in the ratio of 60/40 in merchants’ favor.
Groupon Merchant vs. Vagaro
Like Groupon, Vagaro also offers highly discounted deals to its buyers daily and allows you to advertise your business through their platform. But Vagaro’s main focus is on local salons, spas, and fitness centers.
Looking at the trial period, Vagaro has a 30-day free trial, while the Groupon trial period is not specified. Compared to Groupon, Vagaro Pro is a powerful scheduling and management app for your salon, spa, and fitness business.
Groupon Merchant vs. Woot
Woot is another great alternative to Groupon that allows you to advertise your business through their platform. But unlike Groupon, Woot is limited to product offerings, while Groupon Merchants has a more diverse portfolio that includes service-based industries.
Unlike Groupon, woot offers a 30-day free trial. While Groupon has no upfront fee, Woot pricing plan starts from $1 for each product you would like to promote.
Groupon Merchant FAQs
What types of businesses work with Groupon?
You can sign up as a Groupon Merchant if your business falls under any of these categories:
- Food & Drink
- Health, Beauty, & Wellness
- Culture, Activities, & Events
- Home, Auto, & Local Services
- Hotels & Travel
How long does it take till my Groupon campaign goes live?
Once you have created your campaign and submitted your bank & tax information, your campaign will go live within 24 hours. You can also choose a preferred ‘Go Live’ date, especially if you still have some internal logistics to put in place before the orders start coming in.
Is Groupon a reputable company?
Groupon is a legit company that provides a platform for you to promote your business.
Is Groupon free
Becoming a merchant on Groupon is free. No upfront is required.