Group Buying on the Decline in Australia

Source: Business Marketing Blog

Around 12 months ago group buying was being heralded as the great new growth channel for digital... An easy way to take advertisers money and excess stock... a win / win. Perhaps not...

In 2010 the industry sparked from nothing to $377 million in less than 12 months. It was "the fastest growing retail platform in Australia” (IBIS World Group Buying Report, 27th April 2011)

The market grew by 28% to $400M in 2011 but has matured a lot since.

Move forward to 2013 and the industry is undergoing a fundamental shift with Spreets stopping their service, revenue falling for 3 consecutive quarters, and traffic to almost all sites in decline.

Group Buying Audiences; Nielsen Answers 2013

Consumers frustrated with poor experiences from local businesses, local businesses fed up with the lack of repeat customers, over-saturation of sites and advertisers like Woolworths and Harvey Norman trying their hand at deals all having an impact.

It's not all doom and gloom though according Telsyte suggesting travel and national based deals have actually stabilized this decline and will deliver it overall year on year growth.

Either way, having access to legitimate consumer data in the Australian market is a real asset for the likes of Spreets/Yahoo. If one thing characterizes the group buying industry, it's a willingness to experiment with buying models that excite consumers, and continuous evolution.

How to Grow Facebook Fans Tips

Quite often I hear myths and complaints from friends in the industry and clients around Facebook fan growth... And I probably thought some of these were true before I spent some serious time on campaigns.

Social Media Usage in Australian

It seems that even in the new media space us Aussies still love our monopolies. There's only 2 social networks for most Australians.

I was recently doing some research on social media usage in Australia purely looking at scale (audience size and engagement). While ultimately how effective a platform is, comes down to what you get out of it... Reality suggest it's volumes that attracts advertising dollars.

Unique Audience - Social  Networks (Source Nielsen Answers, Jan 2013)

Back in Town

Somehow a whole year went by without managing to write a post. 

I've been reading lots, taking a lot in for the year. Making the jump out of niche digital agency to big media has been a real eye opener.

2013 is already shaping up to be a big year with lots on the horizon.

It's also the year I'm getting back on the bike.

How to Waste Money on Social Media.

Marketer's want their brands to be 'social' and 'viral' more then ever and they want it to happen quickly. It's something I'm sure most of the industry is grappling with. The reality is, if you have zero presence in the space and there's no social affinity with your brand this probably isn't going to happen for you overnight.

An article published on The Australian today ran some shining PR for a "blog advertising community" claiming advertisers are spending $100,000 per campaign to tap into bloggers. The IAB continues to announce year on year growth in digital spends (Mumbrella) which is great for online, but it doesn't equate to investment.

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Scratch the surface on almost Social Media success case study and you will inevitably find some pre-existing social engagement and interaction (i.e. Sportsgirl Forums, Best Job in the World, Fiesta Movement). They are built on a deeper foundation and an environment that fosters ongoing exploration. On the other hand when you look at the stuff ups (i.e. iSnack 2.0, Toyota) you find the opposite... a grab for headlines in a new medium.

The best way to squander money on Social Media is to focus on only short term gains.