Consumers flock to discount deal sites but more need to be convinced to buy
Consumers are increasingly registering for discount deal sites such as Groupon, Kgbdeals, Kelkoo Select, Living Social and DailyDeals according to a new survey.
Lightspeed Research surveyed 1,000 people on their online panel in June and found that 72% were aware of daily deal sites. Groupon was by far the most popular site, with almost half of those who were aware of deal sites (48%) registering. Ebay was the second most popular at 19% followed by Kgbdeals at 14%.
Registrations might be high, but there is still work to do to in convincing members to actually make a purchase, Lightspeed said. Of all the respondents who had registered on deal sites, just over half said they had actaually bought a deal (54%). 59% of those surveyed said that the main reason for not buying was that the deals were not attractive to them. Younger respondents were more likely to cite financial constraints as their main reason for not buying (22%). 10% of all respondents said they would like to buy but the deals were located too far away.
Although women were more likely to register for daily deal sites than men at 72% vs 61% respectively, 51% of women had never made a purchase, compared to 39% of men. One tenth of men who had bought from daily deal sites in the past 12 months had made 10 or more purchases.
The most popular deal items purchased were entertainment and event tickets (34%), electronics (27%), clothing (26%) and dining deals (25%). Men led the way in almost all categories except for spa trips and health and fitness.
Lightspeed found that receiving an email often acted as a catalyst in persuading people to make a purchase. The researchers found that almost two thirds of members who had purchased on a daily deal site (64%) had bought an item they were previously undecided about. Men and 18-34 year olds were the most likely to be enticed to respond.
Furthermore, more than half of those surveyed had bought an item they had no intention of buying before seeing the offer. 59% of 18-34 year olds admitted to this, compared to 47% of 35-54 year olds and 40% of 55-64 year olds. Although women generally were less likely to buy deals, 54% admitting to being enticed to impulse buy through a daily deal compared to only 48% of men.
Ralph Risk, marketing director, Lightspeed Research Europe said: “Everyone loves a bargain – and we know from the research we’ve already done in our series on e-commerce that a lot of online shopping is considered, and thoroughly researched. 75% of people check prices before buying what they are looking for and 87% do some sort of online research.”
He continued: “Our research shows that daily deals can encourage impulse buys on items consumers were either initially unsure of, or weren’t intending to purchase at all. There’s more work to do to raise awareness of daily deal sites, as well as to increase the appeal of offers that will help encourage more members to make a purchase.”
