The daily deals’ space has been really getting pounded lately. The daily deal leaders, namely Groupon and LivingSocial, have specifically been getting a lot of negative press. Both companies have been accused of inflating their discounts. Groupon has also been facing a lot of turmoil in regards to its IPO and the fact that its own sales staff filed a lawsuit against it.
The negativity has also extended to consumers and merchants. Consumers are not happy about the constant flood of emails they receive of mostly irrelevant deals, AKA massages. Merchants, on the other hand, are not pleased with the upfront payments they have to make, especially when they seem to get only a small return, if any.
Are daily deals losing their value? Let us know what you think.
WebProNews spoke with Mike Tokar, the CEO and founder of new deals’ service myVici, who told us that part of the problem with deals recently was due to the oversaturation of the space. He admitted to us that the space needed to make some changes, but he said that the recent events shouldn’t represent the entire industry, especially since the space is young and is still maturing.
“It does deliver value to consumers and businesses alike, [but] it has to be adjusted,” he said.
In an effort to “adjust” the current daily deal model, Tokar launched a new service called myVici that gives users and merchants more control. With myVici, consumers can request deals to their favorite places. When they make a request, they have to build up a group of 100 or more. Once this number is reached, myVici will approach the merchant with the group’s backing.
“Pretty much every place out there has a deal except for places you really want, places that you love, [and] places that you want to visit more and more,” said Tokar. “That’s where my Vici comes in.”
Merchants also benefit through myVici since they’re essentially guaranteed that the entire group will purchase their offer. They also have more insight into what consumers want.
“When you say, ‘I want this,’ we’ll listen,” said Tokar. “When businesses say what they need, we’ll listen.”
“Most importantly, we provide value because it’s based on what you said you want,” he added.
Tokar told us that he thinks that the value this model provides will draw people to use the new service.
As for the future of the daily deals’ space, he believes there will be more exits and consolidations. But, he thinks the most prominent shift will be toward a model such as myVici’s that gives consumers more control.
Do you foresee a wide adoption of the myVici model in the daily deals’ space?