Bartercard Discuss The Real Cost of Discounting

With such fierce competition and all consumers looking to bag a bargain, it’s no wonder we turn to discount websites such as GrabOne, TreatMe and Groupon for offers. Why wouldn’t you? But as a merchant and small business owner, have you worked out the real cost of discounting and the impact it has on your business? Daily deal websites charge a fee of approximately 15-20% of the sale price and stipulate that the offer presented must be at least 50% off the original sale price.

It’s easy to think by offering a discount you’ll attract new customers and they’ll leave happy because they haven’t paid full price, but discounts cost money, and not just to your bottom line. So, by reducing your price by just 10% on a margin of 40%, your sales have to increase by 33% in order to make the same profit.

That’s a big ask in a competitive market, especially when you add a fee onto that.

Discounting can also have an impact on your brand reputation as highlighted in an article, when an Auckland pizzeria refused to accept a customer’s GrabOne voucher. All these aspects impact your bottom line.

Bartercard is not a discount service, and while there are fees associated with being a member of the network, it’s a mere 7.5% in comparison. Bartercard allows members to grow sales by 10% or more within the first 12 months of becoming a member and they can prove it – no discounts are required!

So, do your sums. Does it add up to offer discounts both from a profit and customer perspective? Ask yourself this – are your customers loyal or are they just hunting for the next deal? As a merchant, are you wanting more customers or have excess capacity you want to utilise? Bartercard suggest you download their eBook Eight ways to attract new customers which shows you how you can implement new techniques to increase your market share, gain competitive advantage and achieve financial success, so for more information on increasing salesincreasing profits and increased profits please go to www.bartercard.co.nz .

Bartercard Explain The Importance of ORM in a Digital World

Online Reputation Management (ORM) is all about brand awareness, and is the

process of measuring, monitoring, tracking and creating constructive conversations about your brand, corporate and personal identity, on the Internet. In summary, it encompasses monitoring online conversation about your brand and corporate or personal identity, understanding what is being said about it and critically analyzing the reasons behind the discussions.

It is about devising a methodical strategy, and interacting with your consumers to mitigate any damage to your brand that could potentially arise as a result of negative feedback about your company, product or business methods, ensuring that no further negative repercussions occur by maintaining a strong positive online presence.

ORM plays a crucial role in Digital Marketing, helping to get rid of negative reviews about a company, person and brand from search engines, taking away harmful hidden content. For a brand, reputation is their first priority, and ORM involves inserting new content on-line that pushes previous or unwanted content lower in search results.

Online Reputation Management has become an essential component of any brand reputation management strategy, and protecting a brand’s image is the most important thing a company can do. A brand’s name and goodwill is earned through years of hard work, and losing it might take just minutes in the online world. In today’s reality, businesses are steadily falling prey to negative scam allegations that can damage their web reputation drastically. Slander feedback or negative remarks can topple the online reputation of your business which will lead to negative impact to your online credibility and result in significant loss of sales, maybe even of the business itself.

Bartercard is all about helping businesses to grow and prosper, so for more information on increasing profitsincreasing business profits and increasing sales please go to www.bartercard.co.nz .