In order to ensure businesses are not getting ripped off by daily deal sites, a pair of Sydney entrepreneurs – who are also behind sweetbusinessdeals.com.au – have launched dealflip, a platform that allows business owners to find and compare the best quotes and commissions to run a deal.
It works by business owners uploading a deal they want to offer, they’ll then receive competitive quotes from up to three deal sites and then finally choose the one they wish to feature on. Best part of all, there’s no obligation to run a deal and it’s absolutely free to use.
Paul Serra, CEO and co-founder, said businesses often fine themselves in a typical David and Goliath scenario when dealing with daily deals sites as they have the upper hand and business owners are powerless to the exorbitant commissions and terms imposed on them.
“By creating a competitive atmosphere between the deal sites, we’re effectively giving businesses the best chance in securing favourable commissions and payment terms. Not to mention saving them the legwork of contacting each site individually – dealflip is all about saving business owners time and money,” he said.
According to Serra, the industry is in need of some serious competition when a majority of the market share is controlled by sites like Groupon and LivingSocial.
“There are over 80 deal sites currently operating in Australia, so it’s ridiculous to see that the larger players are getting away with charging 50 per cent. Business owners need to shop around and find deal sites who are open to creating win-win situations and we believe that dealflip is the best way to do so,” he said.
There have been a lot of early interest showing signs that this new model is welcomed by all parties, including deal sites.
“We’ve already managed to sign up close to 30 businesses and over six deal sites that are ready to use the platform. I know this might not be welcomed by the behemoths of the space but we hope this encouraged competition has a positive effect on the industry,” Serra said.
From his experience so far, Serra has rated Loveitup.com.au and Limeandtonic.com to be the top daily deal sites to deal with has they each have a charitable element to their offering while commissions are reasonable and competitive.
“Lime&Tonic targets a more premium crowd so the brands they usually work with are top notch like The Hilton Hotel, Swissotel and Catalina Rose Bay. They also guarantee repeat customers, which is the most important element of running a ‘group buying’ campaign by using other promotional strategies including premium deals where the merchant does not have to discount. This is an innovative move in the deals industry.”