The DISCOUNT marketing strategy

We all know business is tough these days.
Consumers are on the prowl like hunger jackals looking for the dead or "out of business" to make a quick feast out of. Not to mention that mantra that says: the customer is king.

This means that competition has gotten really fierce and they who manage to convince the customer to part with hard earned cash need to do a pretty darn good job during the sales pitch otherwise - no sale translates to no income or simply another potential: OUT OF BUSINESS sign in the making!

Enter the solution: DISCOUNTS!
Yes! I know you've heard the term and probably used this tool - a time or two.
But did you use it properly? That's the real question.

That's why I'm here to suggest a trick or two.
Discounts are very lovely devices that serve one purpose - to get the customer to set foot into your shop or business and more than likely make purchases. However - that is not our real objective (No sir!)

Our real objective is to impress it upon our customer to make more than one purchase while in our store by offering items that compliment the initial sale at a better bargain than the original item he/she solely intended to buy. This is the secret of a cross sell - a sell that does not interfere with the initial purchase but compliments it.
And what better way to do that than to offer a better bargain if two complimenting items are purchased as opposed to one! Better yet why not offer higher discounts when more purchases are made?

Thus as a seller or business person - it has become my new job to "assist" my customer to make better buying choices or decisions while in my store. I will also offer the best service that will assist this choice and will help the customer save his/her hard earned cash in this time of want. So far this is done in my store.

The discounts are designed to encourage volume purchases across all brands not just a particular brand.
I am also expected to get the customer details and to keep them informed of special offers - especially offers that will provide more gains when utilized.

In this age of the shrinking margin - the speed and volume of sale is considered far better that hefty profits that might take forever to arrive or that depend on one specific type of customer that comes in once in six months. Bad business is when a bulk of your stock is still hanging on the shelf two months after purchase with no sales in sight while your competitor across the street has sold his stock twice in this time span.

There are other variations to discounts that can equally assist sales and provide incentive for improved customer loyalty and brand awareness.

Recently group buying web platforms have come into the fray and have become the new Mecca of merchants and customers alike - sites like Groupon and its hundreds of variants all over the globe.

They basically harness the power of group buying and leverage a volume strategy directed at merchants that guarantee a definite purchase for the merchant while offering customers a discount incentive.

To this end various companies have joined the fray of creating derivatives of the same group buying software towards offering alternatives with addons and other business and service specific enhancements.

For instance - I have evaluated and recently purchased scripts from UniProgy Limited, which is a Groupon Clone development company. They offer Groupon Clone Software tools and Group Buying software for daily deal websites.
Their web site is located at: http://www.uniprogy.com (perhaps you can review the website and see if it meets your business and service requirements)

Their prices are fairly affordable when compared to the alternatives and they have a good customer service interaction as I have had reasonable responses when I had engaged them with some additional requirements.

However it would be pertinent to ensure that a consistent service track record and the ability to customize the scripts is equally available - if you have those additional requirements that the basic script does not immediately meet.

If you want to learn more please feel free to drop a comment - we can offer more than just advice!