We all know just how profound an impact Groupon, Living Social and the daily deal sites that followed them have had on the online shopping world. But despite the meteoric rise in popularity, is the daily deal model not without some negatives?
According to a new survey, the answer is yes, though the results still resoundingly point to a continued rise in the use of such sites.
PriceGrabber just rolled out its Local Deals Survey, which polled nearly 2,100 online consumers in the U.S. between May 20 and 25 about their daily and local deal shopping activity. Primarily, the research substantiates the notion that daily deal sites are increasingly becoming a preferred method of shopping online: 44 percent of respondents say they regularly use or search a daily deal website, while 63 percent of consumers admitted they receive offers from two or more deal sites each day.
As we’ve come to expect, the motivation behind the widespread use of daily deal sites is pretty obvious—saving money. More than three-quarters of respondents (78 percent) indicated they buy local deals to do just that, while only 19 percent cited the ability to try out new services that would otherwise be outside their price range.
However, in a telling sign that points towards oversaturation, 52 percent said they feel overwhelmed by the volume of special deal emails they receive each day. Meanwhile, 60 percent indicated they believe the daily deal industry has become overcrowded with too many sites.
“Whether we are in the depths of a recession or the height of a booming economy, consumers are looking to save money— period,” said Graham Jones, general manager of PriceGrabber. “The daily deals sector clearly shows promising signs for long-term growth, but the data reinforces the frustration consumers can feel when a new trend explodes so quickly.”
PriceGrabber asserts that frustration underscores the need for a more streamlined approach to the daily deal process, and the company itself believes it has a solution. It recently launched a new one-stop service that aggregates daily deals from up to 20 local deal websites and gives consumers more control over how many deal emails they receive.
Still, even with some blemishes, the daily deal industry is sitting pretty right now. In addition to the obvious benefit of saving money, shoppers love daily deal sites for their social networking angle too. The survey finds that 86 percent of respondents tend to share deals they find with friends and family. This sharing takes on all forms: 71 percent said they do so via word of mouth, 64 percent chose email and 26 percent share it through Facebook.
What are your thoughts on the current state of daily deal shopping? Leave us a comment!
