Groupon, a site that offers deep discounts for local services such as restaurants, auto detailing, spas and holistic healing, is refining its segmentation even further: in some markets, such as Washington, DC, it has begun offering hyper local discounts.
Instead of a coupon served up to the entire region of Northern Virginia, the District and southern Maryland, viewers can ask to see only, say, coupons from southern Maryland. Launched in November 2008 in Chicago, Groupon's deal of the day is good for only 24 hours. The discounts can be significant - usually $50 or more off from what the service might ordinarily cost. In exchange the service provider is guaranteed a certain number of new customers, who are free to redeem the coupon for one year. If not enough people sign up for the deal that day, it is rescinded.
Available in 30 cities including Chicago, Boston, New York City, San Francisco, Atlanta and Washington, D.C, Groupon is riding several distinct money-making internet trends: consumers' never-ending quest for bargains and the power of social media - in this case, harnessed for its buying power. Now, it is adding a hyper local focus to the mix.
comScore's Top Gaining Category
In general, coupon sites are very popular among consumers now. The latest data from data from comScore's Media Metrix service found traffic to incentive sites jumped 76% in November, attracting 27.6 million unique visitors and making incentive sites the top-gaining category for the month. (via MarketingCharts).
At the same time, hyper local content and advertising is also gaining significant momentum. This year Borrell Associates predicts a host of new competitors will rush into the market to "become purveyors of hyperlocal everything." For example, PBS, ESPN, AOL, Huffington Post, The Knot, Microsoft, Yahoo and numerous others have announced plans to immerse themselves in local ad sales, according to its recent report and five-year forecast on local interactive advertising.
"The game in 2010 will center more around stealing market share than growing the market. Local advertisers have had plenty of time to assess the effectiveness of banner ads, search, streaming video and e-mail advertising peddled to them over the past decade," the report said, according to MarketingCharts. "They will abandon programs that just do not work, and embrace those that produce measurable results."
Other Mediums
Hyper local content's business case - consumers already segmented by geography - is spreading into other mediums, such as television.
Specifically reality shows are embracing the concept with the latest example being Willard, MO-based Willard Parks and Recreation Department. It is teaming up with medical professionals from CoxHealth for a local version of "The Biggest Loser" that starts this week through mid-February, according to the local paper, The News-Leader, which will follow the contest and profile participants in the project its Health pages for the next few weeks.
