August 16, 2010
After experimenting with Groupon late last year and blogging about Savvy Cellar’s experience, I was immediately inundated with comments and questions from small businesses all over the world. Since that time, we have seen the “Daily Deal” space grow with such fervor and frothiness that I can’t help but imagine it is heading towards an inevitable meltdown (or at least significant contraction of the numbers of competitors playing in this space). Simple consumer logic dictates that one can only view and consume so many coupons on a daily basis . . but who knows.
I was recently interviewed by MSN Business on Main writer Barbara Schenck in her article “Daily Deals Propel Coupons to New Heights“. Barbara pressed me to provide practical advice to small business owners as to how they should approach this emergent form of marketing. It got me thinking . . are there best practices that small businesses could follow? Read more…
July 21, 2010
I’ve been blessed over the course of my 12 years in Silicon Valley working for Netscape, AOL and Apple and consulting for countless software and Internet companies to have met many bright, creative and high-impact people. Today I kick off a new blog series highlighting some of those people. As Jim Barksdale, CEO of Netscape, would explain: “every great list has either 3 or 5 things on it. If you got 4 on your list, you either got 1 too many or need to add 1 more.” I’ve opted for 5 questions on my “list” and blog series!
Luke Hohmann is software product expert, author, coach, entrepreneur, innovator, teacher and friend. He is the author of “Journey of the Software Professional: A Sociology of Software Development”, “Beyond Software Architecture: Creating and Sustaining Winning Solutions”, and “Innovation Games: Creating Breakthrough Products Through Collaborative Play”. He is a former faculty member of the UC Berkeley and Santa Cruz (Extensions). Luke is on the board of the Agile Alliance and is a member of the ACM, IEEE, and PDMA. Luke is the Founder & CEO of Enthiosys, an Agile Product Management Consultancy. I caught up with him recently to talk about his latest venture, Innovation Games Online.
1. What are Innovation Games Online?
Innovation Games® online are web-based versions of some of our most popular games. They provide the same kind rich interaction and collaboration of our in-person versions of the games at a web-scale.
Read more…
January 21, 2010
MerchantCirle, the company described as a “hyperlocal business directory” and a “social network for business owners” has signed up its millionth merchant. (Full disclosure: they are a former client). I have used MerchantCircle since they were founded, maintaining a presence on the service for Savvy Cellar Wine Bar & Wine Shop. As the site has grown and evolved, I have tried many of their new features and enhancements.
Here’s my $.02 on why they’ve been successful and what type of business owner can benefit by using MerchantCircle. Read more…
December 3, 2009
As co-owner of Savvy Cellar Wine Bar & Wine Shop, I get to experiment with promotional services that are designed to help local businesses. Over the course of several years we’ve tried (no particular order): Google Adwords, Yahoo! Local, MerchantCircle, Local Newspapers, Local Magazines, Email, Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare, Peninsula Shops, Movie Theater Advertising, Rumbafish and now Groupon.
Groupon is an online coupon site. It is organized by major metro markets in the US. Each day they feature something unique to do in the local market (restaurants, spas, entertainment, etc.) at a special “group” price. There is a minimum level set for each offer – meaning that a certain # of people have to sign up for the daily groupon in order for everyone to get it. This drives sharing among friends on social networks. If enough people opt to take the offer, then the offer is “on”. At the end of the day, everyone who took the offer is charged. Then Groupon takes their cut 40-60% and pays the merchant the balance.
Read more…
Filed under Internet, Local / Small Business, Savvy Cellar, Wine
Tagged with coupons, groupon, Internet, local, marketing, promotions, small business, Wine
November 16, 2009
MerchantCircle released the results of their most recent “Merchant Confidence Index.” Of the 12,000 plus local merchants who participated in the survey, some highlights:
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- Overall economic sentiment continues to be low
- Low expectations for holiday sales
- Some glimmers of hope appearing to emerge
- High expectations for business survival
- Some plan for modest hiring
The key findings from the study can be found here.
MerchantCircle’s press release is here.
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