Like Tree13Likes

Groupon Hong Kong - how crap can they get?

Closed Thread
Page 2 of 5 FirstFirst 1 2 3 4 5 LastLast
  1. #11

    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    23,205

    The sceptic in me isn't going to buy anything that you need to declare before the point where it comes to pay. If there are genuine coupons that you don't need to declare when reserving or ordering and are just discounts off the final bill then maybe they're worth looking at, but I'm also not too keen on the pre-payment aspect (UnoMas's shut down was completely unheralded, for example - I even had a lunch arranged there with friends for the first day they were closed!)

    dear giant likes this.

  2. #12

    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    13,099
    Quote Originally Posted by PDLM:
    The sceptic in me isn't going to buy anything that you need to declare before the point where it comes to pay. If there are genuine coupons that you don't need to declare when reserving or ordering and are just discounts off the final bill then maybe they're worth looking at....
    Have you been taking advice from my wife ?? She is paranoid about having extra bubbles in our food when we use coupons
    What are you worried about?

    It is in their interest to make you happy so you come back and pay full price. There are some that do this well and a few that dont.
    We had a fantastic experience recently at Le Souk where the staff went out of their way to make us happy with our coupons.
    We had a piss poor experience at Habibi's where the staff could use some serious retraining.
    We will definitely go back to Le Souk and happily pay full price. We wont be back to Habibi's for a good long time.

    but I'm also not too keen on the pre-payment aspect (UnoMas's shut down was completely unheralded, for example - I even had a lunch arranged there with friends for the first day they were closed!)
    A few have had delay issues but in general coupon sites have been pretty good about refunds when something doesn't get delivered...

  3. #13

    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    North Point
    Posts
    116

    are there any other voucher sites as well as Groupon?


  4. #14

    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Gold Coast Marina
    Posts
    17,934

    I'm cheap and love vouchers ... but my experience with Groupon has been pretty poor. I have a little credit left on their site - once I use it up that's it. No more.


  5. #15

    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    13,099

    There are around 35 of them in Hong Kong now. There were more than 40 before but a few have gone bust. I'm sure a few more will go bust.
    The popular ones (english friendly) are:
    Groupon
    Twangoo
    Beecrazy
    Valuup


  6. #16

    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Posts
    1,369
    Quote Originally Posted by HowardCoombs:
    It is in their interest to make you happy so you come back and pay full price. There are some that do this well and a few that dont.
    We had a fantastic experience recently at Le Souk where the staff went out of their way to make us happy with our coupons.
    We had a piss poor experience at Habibi's where the staff could use some serious retraining.
    We will definitely go back to Le Souk and happily pay full price. We wont be back to Habibi's for a good long time.
    Theoretically, yes, it is in the merchant's interest to make all of their customers as pleased as possible in the hope of repeat, non-discounted business. If these coupons or discounts were being granted directly by the business to existing or prospective customers walking through their doors, it might even work enough to make it worthwhile for the merchant.

    The problem is that, by and large, people who use services like Groupon tend to always be looking for a bargain and, while they certainly may not be poor, they do tend to be cheap. The businesses get an influx of one-time customers descending on them like locusts and those folks will be redeeming coupons at some other establishment next time.

    You liked Le Souk and intend to go back there again in the future. I don't doubt your sincerity one bit. But you're going to try some more deals at other restaurants, assuming that such deals are available, first ... right?

    That's the problem.
    TheBrit and carang like this.

  7. #17

    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    13,099
    Quote Originally Posted by dear giant:
    The problem is that, by and large, people who use services like Groupon tend to always be looking for a bargain and, while they certainly may not be poor, they do tend to be cheap. The businesses get an influx of one-time customers descending on them like locusts and those folks will be redeeming coupons at some other establishment next time.

    You liked Le Souk and intend to go back there again in the future. I don't doubt your sincerity one bit. But you're going to try some more deals at other restaurants, assuming that such deals are available, first ... right?

    That's the problem.
    I will always have my eyes open for deals and normally you would be right...But in this case I'm going back to LeSouk next week to take my parents there. I will also recommend it to all that ask including here. I wont be doing that with Habibi.

    As for the problem, I dont disagree with you but there are a number of things establishments can do to discourage the truly cheap bastards.

    1) Control number of coupons sold per person to maximum 1 or 2
    2) Dont sell open ended cash equivalent coupons (sell set meals) where they can control the offering a bit more
    3) Offer coupons with a higher upfront investment. For LeSouk I paid $200 upfront. For OpusGrill I paid $400 up front (while subway/paisano's were $25 upfront). By increasing upfront payments the merchants can discourage the masses.

    A lot of people have been predicting the end of this type of business model. Personally, I dont think this is going to disappear any time soon.
    Last edited by HowardCoombs; 12-12-2011 at 03:10 PM.
    dear giant likes this.

  8. #18

    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    North Point
    Posts
    116
    A lot of people have been predicting the end of this type of business model. Personally, I dont think this is going to disappear any time soon.
    With Groupon IPO'ing as a 10 billion dollar company I don;t see them disappearing anytime soon either.

  9. #19

    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Posts
    2,446
    Quote Originally Posted by HowardCoombs:
    As for the problem, I dont disagree with you but there are a number of things establishments can do to discourage the truly cheap bastards.

    1) Control number of coupons sold per person to maximum 1 or 2
    2) Dont sell open ended cash equivalent coupons (sell set meals) where they can control the offering a bit more
    3) Offer coupons with a higher upfront investment. For LeSouk I paid $200 upfront. For OpusGrill I paid $400 up front (while subway/paisano's were $25 upfront). By increasing upfront payments the merchants can discourage the masses.

    A lot of people have been predicting the end of this type of business model. Personally, I dont think this is going to disappear any time soon.
    I agree with what Howard is saying in terms of minimising the "cheap bastard" impact but I'm not sure if it's feasible as I get the impression that companies participating in Groupon deals have very little say in terms of volumes sold and also when the offer actually takes place.

    Reminds me of the Groupon problem in the UK last month:

    Groupon demand almost finishes cupcake-maker - Telegraph
    dear giant likes this.

  10. #20

    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    13,099
    Quote Originally Posted by bibbju:
    I agree with what Howard is saying in terms of minimising the "cheap bastard" impact but I'm not sure if it's feasible as I get the impression that companies participating in Groupon deals have very little say in terms of volumes sold and also when the offer actually takes place.
    Oh, they have a *lot* of say in the process but the salespeople are also equally convincing and sometimes bully the owners into deals. The owners have every right to modify and refuse deals. As your examples show, sometimes they dont to their own detriment...