Groupon Chooses the Vertica Analytics Platform to

Power Deeper Insight into Subscriber and

Customer Behavior
Staff Reporter
507 words
19 January 2011
Plus News Pakistan
PMPLUN
English
2011. Plus Media Solutions Pakistan

Karachi: Vertica Systems, the leading provider of real-time analytics

platforms, today announced that Groupon, a shopping website that
offers a daily deal on the best local goods, services and cultural events
in more than 500 markets around the world, has selected the Vertica
Analytics Platform as their platform of choice for analyzing subscriber
behavior and to scale their business intelligence capabilities to meet the
demands created by the company's rapid growth and success.

The Vertica Analytics Platform was selected after a rigorous evaluation

process where Vertica excelled in meeting Groupon's requirements for
parallel data loading, query performance and simplicity, as well as
Vertica's ability to deploy on the Amazon Elastic Cloud Computing
(EC2) offering. With the Vertica Analytics Platform, Groupon is in a
position to analyze the relationships found among its extensive amounts
of data, including the ability to associate revenue and other metrics to
individual users.

"As Groupon continues its rapid expansion into new markets, we see
advanced analytics as a key component to achieving our subscription,
revenue, and customer satisfaction targets," said Dr. Mark Johnson,
Groupon's Chief Data Officer. "Vertica provides an ideal platform for
analyzing the massive amounts of usage data generated by our
subscribers, giving us insight into the effectiveness of different
campaigns and marketing promotions. We're looking to the Vertica
Analytics Platform as the cornerstone of an analytics strategy that will
help us move to the next level."

Vertica's unique architecture allows users to manage massive amounts

of data faster and more reliably than any other analytics platform, giving
companies the power to obtain real-time business intelligence. The
Vertica Analytics Platform is purpose-built to get users up and running
quickly and to operate with fewer resources than traditional solutions.
Fast parallel loading, automated database design, and familiar
interfaces means users are productive in minutes instead of days, and
an architecture optimized for industry-standard hardware, virtual
machines (private cloud), or on the cloud delivers the flexibility and
elasticity to deploy analytics where, and when, needed.

"Groupon is the fastest growing company in history, and the Vertica

Analytics Platform was built with companies like Groupon in mind," said
Christopher Lynch, President and CEO of Vertica Systems. "With
Vertica, Groupon has the power for real-time analysis of their
subscriber-generated data now and a platform built to scale as they
continue their meteoric growth. We're looking forward to working with
Groupon to develop their analytics capabilities in a way that enhances
the experience for their users and helps them make mission-critical
decisions based on real data, not hunches."

About Groupon

Groupon, launched in November 2008 in Chicago, features a daily deal

on the best stuff to do, eat, see and buy in more than 500 markets
around the world. Groupon uses collective buying power to offer
unbeatable prices and provide a win-win for businesses and
consumers, delivering more than 650 daily deals globally.

The Rise of Social Commerce: Major Retailers

Have a Lot to Learn About Promoting Their
Flash Sales from Websites Like Groupon
Anonymous. PR Newswire [New York] 27 Sep 2010.

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Abstract (summary)
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Abstract

Interpret's New Media Measure(TM) study finds 68% of online

shoppers are cutting back on their spending in this tight economy -
retailers have responded by offering "flash" sales on their websites
on a limited quantity item for a short amount of time at deep
discounts.
 Full Text
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SANTA MONICA, Calif., Sept. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Interpret, a

leading entertainment, media and technology market research firm,
today released an Interpretations report, "The Rise of Social
Commerce" which found that major retailers are not leveraging
social media to promote their flash sales as effectively as smaller
dedicated websites. Interpret's New Media Measure(TM) study finds
68% of online shoppers are cutting back on their spending in this
tight economy - retailers have responded by offering "flash" sales
on their websites on a limited quantity item for a short amount of
time at deep discounts. Interpret found that 22 of the top 25 online
retailers offer a form of flash sale on their website, but they have
yet to implement a strategy as successful as sites such as Groupon,
Gilt and ideeli. The success of these dedicated sites can be
attributed to how effectively they leverage a new social media
phenomenon called "Collective Buying," where a certain number of
people must buy the coupon before the discount becomes valid.

"The most successful online retailers are not using social media to
promote their deals effectively," said Zak Kirchner, Senior Research
Analyst, Interpret LLC. "Unlike dedicated flash sites Groupon and
Gilt that have leveraged the social web to achieve strong flash sales
success, very few of the major retailers have used social networks
to promote their flash sales, which is a missed opportunity."

New Media Measure(TM) is Interpret LLC's proprietary, quarterly

survey of media behaviors, attitudes and product consumption.
Designed to keep pace with the evolving media landscape, New
Media Measure(TM) supplies the means to better measure and keep
track of fast-changing consumer behaviors. New Media Measure(TM)
surveys 9,000 consumers aged 12-65, representative of the U.S.
population and weighted to U.S. Census. Data collected includes:
demographics, psychographics, brand consumption, traditional
media consumption, online and social networking, mobile phone,
video gaming, and digital entertainment. Data is available via
Interface, a web-accessible, interactive analysis tool, through
Intrend, quarterly trend reports, and through Interpretations,
monthly whitepapers written by Interpret analysts.

About Interpret LLC

Interpret LLC is a leading entertainment, media and technology
measurement and market research firm that applies proprietary,
cutting edge methodologies and extensive category knowledge to
help companies plan, test, and measure their business strategies.
www.interpretllc.com.

SOURCE Interpret LLC

Credit: Interpret LLC

Copyright PR Newswire Association LLC Sep 27, 2010

Catching up with your customers: restaurants

struggle to reach their increasingly tech-savvy
customers.(MARKET FOCUS: RESTAURANTS)
Aquino, Judith
693 words
1 July 2012
CRM Magazine
CRMM
24
ISSN: 1529-8728; Volume 16; Issue 7
English
COPYRIGHT 2012 Information Today, Inc. COPYRIGHT 2012 Gale Group

Independently owned restaurants have a long way to go in using online

marketing tools and reaching out to consumers, studies show. In a Pew
Research Center survey of more than 1,000 adults, more than half of
the respondents said they use the Internet to find information about
restaurants.

In contrast, fewer than four in 10 independent restaurants displayed

menus on their Web sites versus approximately 98 percent of chain
restaurants, according to a study by research firm Restaurant Sciences
that looked at the online marketing approaches of more than 2,000 U.S.
restaurants and bars. "Customers are already talking to each other
online, and when they want information, like what's on a restaurant's
menu, one of the first places they check is a Web site," says Chuck
Ellis, president of Restaurant Sciences. "[Independent] restaurants need
to catch up."

To increase a restaurant's chances of being noticed online, it should

also claim its business listing on search engines like Google Places and
Bing, he adds.

A lack of tech-savvy staff, time, and money were among the primary
reasons that independent restaurants had a lackluster Web presence,
according to Ellis. Other common explanations were that local
customers already knew them or a Web site wasn't necessary since
they were on Facebook. "Some restaurants told us they were just too
busy ... to work on their Web site," he says.

In terms of Twitter followers, however, some independent restaurants

"blew the competition away" when compared with chain restaurants,
Ellis says. According to the study, the average independent restaurant
that used Twitter had 343 followers, whereas the average chain
restaurant had 32 followers.

Independent restaurants have a lot to improve on, but those that are
using a social network like Twitter are "doing a good job in engaging
their customers," which can help them "stand out from their
competitors," Ellis notes.

Daily deals sites like Groupon face a growing mountain of criticism from
disenchanted business owners and consumers. Offering special deals
to entice customers can still be beneficial to businesses, but it is
important to have a smart strategy when implementing these deals,
notes David Wolf, CEO of In Business, a marketing firm that counts
several restaurants as clients.

"You won't make money on a Groupon offering [alone] ... companies

need a strategy to upsell visitors ... [or] a second enticing offer to bring
them back," Wolf says.

In addition to understanding that special deals sites are a marketing

expense rather than an instant moneymaker, having a unique product
makes it more likely that a business will benefit in the long run, adds
Erik Chelstad, owner of the Flying Apron in Seattle.

"Being [a] gluten-free and vegan [bakery], we serve a niche group of

people," Chelstad says. "Our challenge is getting people to try our
product. After that, it's our responsibility to provide customers with an
excellent experience that will convince them to come back."

Although he says it has been difficult to quantify exactly how many

returning customers the two Groupon deals his company posted netted,
they were a success in terms of helping the bakeries gain exposure,
Chelstad believes.

Restaurants should prepare for the fact that more consumers are using
their mobile devices for everything from shopping to looking up
information. Google reported that 62 percent of total U.S. searches for
national chain restaurants on Valentine's Day this year occurred on
mobile devices or tablets.
In addition to making sure that consumers are aware of your business, it
is crucial to take ownership of your reputation, Wolf advises. "In this day
and age, it isn't enough to simply have people be aware of your
establishment. They will be looking for reviews from other people, and
proof that you are worth their time," he notes. "If you aren't asking for
reviews and managing that array of information, someone else will take
care of that for you. Don't leave it in the hands of the unhappy customer
to tell your restaurant's story to the world."

Information Today, Inc.

Why promotion may end up a bad deal for

packaged goods. (cover story)
Authors:
NEFF, JACK jneff@adage.com
Source:
Advertising Age; 1/31/2011, Vol. 82 Issue 5, p1-7, 2p
Document Type:
Article
Subject Terms:
*COUPONS (Retail trade)
*PREMIUMS (Retail trade)
*TURNOVER (Business)
*RESEARCH
*MARKETING channels
*RETAIL industry -- Statistics
*SALES promotion
*MARKETING strategy
NAICS/Industry Codes:
541870 Advertising Material Distribution Services
Abstract:
The article examines the use of sales promotion techniques such as
coupons by marketers of so-called packaged goods by the the retail
trade or by manufacturers of those goods. Research is cited
indicating that while the use of coupons by consumers and the
amount of goods sold through price promotions declined
significantly in the second half of 2010 on a sales volume per
promotion basis.
Full Text Word Count:
984
ISSN:
00018899
Accession Number:
57773035
Database:
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Why promotion may end up a bad deal for packaged
goods

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Everyday low prices are moving merchandise better than
coupons, short-term pricing pacts
Even as social-deal programs such as Groupon spread like wildfire, a
funny thing is happening in the broader marketing world: Promotion
has stopped providing much sales lift.
SymphonyIRI Group reports that even though the percentage of
packaged goods sold on price promotion increased markedly for the
second consecutive year, the average volume lift per promotion fell.
A person familiar with Costco's monthly coupon books-among the
most generous in the industry-reports those, too, stopped providing
as much lift last year. (Costco declined to comment.) More broadly,
while U.S. coupon redemption reached record levels overall last
year, according to Valassis Communications, the pace of redemption
fell 15% from the first half to the second half, from $2 billion to $1.7
billion.
Perhaps the most glaring example of all where price promotion
failed last year was at uber-retailer Walmart, when it resorted to
largely self-funded deep "rollbacks" in the U.S. last spring. After that
failed to move the sales needle for a quarter, executives who signed
off on the plan either moved to new jobs or left the company.
Walmart U.S. under CEO Bill Simon reaffirmed a commitment to the
everyday-low-pricing strategy of founder Sam Walton.
All this comes amid a backdrop of consumers being bombarded with
deals like never before. In 70% of package-goods categories last
year, at least 30% of merchandise was sold with some kind of
promotional support, according to SymphonyIRI; that's up from 60%
of categories four years ago. In all, two-thirds of categories saw
increased promotional support last year. But average volume lift per
merchandising event declined across more than half-57%-of CPG
categories last year, according to the research firm.
"We do believe there's a level of promotion fatigue out there," said
Susan Viamari, the report's author. "Promotion has been very high in
the industry over the past couple of years, even though we did see a
moderation in the growth. CPG manufacturers need to evaluate
everyday pricing strategies."
The other issue is that consumers remain tightfisted and
economically distressed, and promotion isn't changing that, Ms.
Viamari said. "Because more than a third of consumers are having
trouble buying groceries, that option of stocking up just because
something is on special is not a very easy option." More marketers
need to tailor their shopper marketing to an individual level, she
added, rather than use tactics such as temporary price reductions.
Realistically, packaged goods and mass retailers don't operate in a
vacuum, so they may be hurt, too, by growing prevalence of
nontraditional digital deals. A growing drumbeat of promotional
offers now hitting email inboxes, including a rising tide of unsolicited
electronic coupon offers in addition to those that consumers
volunteer to receive, will almost inevitably desensitize many
consumers to price-reduction messages, said Gregg Ambach,
managing partner of the Cincinnati office of Analytic Partners, which
conducts marketing-mix modeling for a number of package-goods
marketers, almost all of which have seen declining lift from price
promotion in the past year.
The declining effectiveness of price promotion already has
marketers re-thinking their commitment to it, he said.
"We're seeing somewhat of a deceleration of temporary price
reduction or discounting," Procter & Gamble Co. Chairman-CEO Bob
McDonald said of industry tactics during the company's earnings
conference call Jan. 27.
Stepped-up promotion hasn't fueled stepped-up consumer spending
for P&G or others in the U.S. P&G's organic sales growth came in
below Wall Street expectations last quarter at 3%, largely because
consumer spending across its categories came in lower than
expected, Chief Financial Officer Jon Moeller said. Even as
consumers spent more on Christmas, they appeared to be spending
less on staples such as soap and laundry detergent in December,
when category sales began falling below expectations. Consumer
spending in P&G categories appears to be bouncing back this
month, the company executives said, even as price promotion
appears to have abated.
Not even increased currency of deal messages from consumer to
consumer in December across a wide variety of social media
appeared to help volume lift. A study by Infegy's Social Radar found
on average that 5.3% of social-media mentions of 14 CPG and
apparel brands last year referred to deals, discounts or coupons-and
that percentage spiked to 7% to 11% by late in the year, almost
double what it had been a year earlier. But all that chatter did not
translate into sales gains for most companies.
So what are the implications for digital deal propositions as Google
Offers prepares to join a fray already led by Groupon and Amazon's
Living Social and trailed by dozens of lesser players? It's probably
too soon to say, but out of more than 51 million people worldwide
who've signed up for Groupon, the company reports only 32 million
Groupons actually purchased so far.
Of 150 businesses that tried Groupon between June 2009 and
August 2010, 66% found it profitable, according to a survey by Rice
University, while 32% found the experience unprofitable. (Of
restaurant owners, 42% found Groupon unprofitable, with many
reporting customers who used Groupons spent no more than the
face value, didn't leave tips and never came back.) And later users
of Groupon were more likely to find it unprofitable than earlier ones,
said Utpal Dholakia, the Rice marketing professor who conducted
the study.
That could be because newer users were in newer markets where
the network was less developed, he said. But, he added, "My theory
is that as time passes there's a little bit of jadedness about using
Groupons, because then they become just like any other coupon."
But in other areas, he noted, numerous studies have indicated "the
effects of promotions happen in the short term, and long term it has
very little effect."
Groupon gripes? Share your thoughts on AdAge.com
~~~~~~~~
By JACK NEFF, jneff@adage.com
New Study Evaluates Consumer Behaviors,
Attitudes toward "Social Commerce"
Anonymous. Business Wire [New York] 27 May 2011.

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Abstract (summary)
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According to the survey, nearly half of consumers (47%) have

accessed customer reviews in store using their mobile device with
men (55%) more likely to access these reviews in store than
women (39%). -
 Full Text
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-Research Examines Popularity of "Group-Buying" Sites, Location-

Based Apps-

Shop.org

Kathy Grannis, 202-783-7971

grannisk@nrf.com

Logo: http://www.shop.org

Shoppers are willing to interact with retailers through a variety of

social networks and retailers have limitless opportunities to
capitalize on the momentum, according to the 2011 Social
Commerce Study, a joint research project by Shop.org, comScore
and Social Shopping Labs. The report, which evaluates shopping
directly influenced by social media, polled 1787 adult online
shoppers in April 2011.

According to the survey, 42 percent of online consumers have

"followed" a retailer proactively through Facebook, Twitter or a
retailer's blog, and the average person follows about six retailers.
While shoppers' reasoning for following a retailer varies, the
majority of respondents (58%) said they follow companies to find
deals, while nearly half (49%) say they want to keep up to date on
products. More than one-third also follow retailers for information
on contests and events (39%).

Though many retailers use social media to build their brand,

research indicates that companies may also be able to monetize
these channels. According to the survey, more than half of Facebook
users (56%) say they have clicked through to a retailer's website
because of a Facebook post, while over two-thirds of Twitter users
(67%) say a post has spurred them to click through to a website.
Additionally, the appetite for buying directly through social networks
appears strong: one-third of shoppers say they would be likely to
make a purchase directly from Facebook (35%) or Twitter (32%).

Given the popularity of devices like iPhones and Droids, many

shoppers are using smartphones to easily engage in social media on
a regular basis. According to the survey, 42 percent of Twitter users
access the site on their mobile phone at least once a day, while the
same is true for 34 percent of Facebook users. In addition, about
one-third (32%) of people view YouTube clips daily from their
smartphones.

"Instead of waiting to get back on their desktop computer to watch

videos or interact online, Americans are easily accessing social
networks when they have even a few moments of down time,
whether they're scanning Facebook news feeds while picking up
their kids from school or tweeting about their shopping experience
while browsing the mall," said Fiona Swerdlow, Head of Research at
Shop.org. "The popularity of mobile devices will only boost the
power of social commerce, which presents an incredible opportunity
for retailers."

Shoppers are also using mobile devices for research and information
while shopping in stores. According to the survey, nearly half of
consumers (47%) have accessed customer reviews in store using
their mobile device with men (55%) more likely to access these
reviews in store than women (39%).

-Group-Buying Sites, Location-Based Apps Present Opportunities-

Though still in their infancy, group-buying sites like Groupon,

LivingSocial and Gilt City have already made their mark on many
online shoppers. According to the survey, eight in 10 (82%) online
consumers are aware of group-buying sites, though only 19 percent
of survey respondents have actually made a purchase through one
of the sites. Those who do leverage group-buying sites appear to be
enthusiasts, as the majority of consumers (57%) have spent over
$100 through these sites to date. While some traditional retailers
have experimented with group-buying offers, the majority of
shoppers say they have purchased non-traditional retail items like
food and drinks (18%), entertainment (16%), and personal care
items (12%) through these sites.

"Many shoppers are aware of group-buying sites like Groupon and

LivingSocial, but haven't yet been compelled to make their first
purchase," said Peter Leech, founder, Social Shopping Labs. "As
these sites gain momentum and spread to more cities around the
country, retailers have an opportunity to experiment not only with
established sites but also group-buy promotions on their own
Facebook pages and websites."

The report also evaluated awareness and usage of location-based

applications like Foursquare, Yelp and Gowalla. On the basis of
sheer awareness among consumers, these platforms are still in the
early growth stage among consumers: Foursquare has the highest
awareness (16%), followed by Yelp (10%) and Gowalla (6%).

About the survey

The 2011 "Social Commerce Study" provides a unique look into the
behaviors and attitudes of consumers regarding social media. The
study covers consumer shopping activity and engagement via
Facebook, Twitter, customer reviews on websites, group-buying
sites and location-based social platforms. Over 1700 consumers
participated in the survey which was conducted in April 2011 by
comScore, Inc. The survey participants were selected to ensure that
results were representative of the demographics of the U.S. online
adult consumer. Results were weighted to accurately reflect U.S.
demographics.

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring

the digital world and preferred source of digital business analytics.
www.comscore.com/companyinfo

Social Shopping Labs provides ecommerce and social commerce

consulting services, assisting retailers with strategy, initiative
planning and software solution selection. The company is based out
of Kirkland, Washington. www.socialshoppinglabs.com

Shop.org, a division of the National Retail Federation, is the world's

leading membership community for digital retail. Founded in 1996,
Shop.org's 600 members include the 10 largest retailers in the U.S.
and more than 60 percent of the Internet Retailer Top 100 E-
Retailers. It's where the best retail minds come together to gain the
insight, knowledge and intelligence to make smarter, more informed
decisions in the evolving world of the Internet and multichannel
retailing. Shop.org programs and activities include benchmarking
research, events and networking communities.