Thinking about utilizing Facebook’s Daily Deals feature to bring in local business? Think again. Facebook has pulled the plug on the local deals offering after rolling it out just four short months ago.
Facebook Daily Deals was introduced as a competitor to Groupon, Living Social, and other deal sites but failed to find legs in its five test cities. This announcement comes as a surprise to those of who took advantage of the deals, as well as to Groupon who is planning on announcing their initial public offering later in the year. That means less competition in their dominance of the deals market.
If you’re not familiar, these sites work with local businesses to solicit limited time offers for area residents for special products or services. The discounts are huge– averaging 50-90% off normal prices. The kicker of these sites is the time limit to not just purchase the discounted product, but the timeframe in which to use it. Deal sites will ask a few questions to get a better profile on their user base, and then send out tailored deals and featured daily deals via email.
If your business was planning on taking advantage of the Facebook deal feature, you’ll now have to funnel efforts into an already established deal site. Though this short-lived effort didn’t pan out, fear not for your merchant presence on Facebook. The company isn’t removing their Ads, Pages, and Sponsored Stories feature and plan on continuing to develop and improve their Check-In Deals, which allows users to check in to local businesses. Users that check-in to a business automatically share the activity with their friends and activate special deals offered by business owners. This may be something to look into further if you’re looking to activate social engagement with your storefront.
Daily Deals may not have had a chance to gain a strong enough competitive presence, but it is clear Facebook is working to re-think local business, and that in and of itself is something to be excited about.
(Source: Reuters.com)