Long-term business partnerships with deal sites tipped to surge

Australian franchise Jim’s Group has partnered with discount voucher site DiscountOn.com.au in order to spark sales, with an expert saying similar long-term partnerships are on the cards.

Jim’s Group comprises 40 different franchises including Jim’s Mowing, Jim’s Cleaning and Jim’s Fencing.

DiscountOn.com.au is a discount voucher company, founded by Melbourne entrepreneurs Adam Rowson and Ben Stefanescu.

The site enables consumers to pay suppliers directly, so retailers don’t have to wait up to 60 days to be paid by the site itself.

It’s understood DiscountOn.com.au contacted Jim’s Group founder and chief executive Jim Penman about a potential partnership.

Within a few hours, Penman had signed up and included DiscountOn.com.au in his franchisee newsletter, encouraging all 3100 Jim’s Group franchisees to participate.

“We hope this venture will be successful,” Penman said in a statement.

Rowson believes DiscountOn.com.au will be a major boost for retailers “who must be struggling to work out which sites are offering the best deals, as there are nearly 50 of them now”.

“In regards to complaints made about group buying sites, most of the complaints are around delays in delivery, the inability to redeem deals and slow customer service,” Rowson says.

“Our system solves all of those issues.”

The news comes one week after Westfield announced a partnership with group buying giant Groupon, launching a new group buying deals service known as Groupon Powered by Westfield.

The partnership will see consumers offered a range of exclusive deals with retailers such as Hoyts, Escape Travel, Boost Juice, Salsa’s Fresh Mex, Ed Harry and Ella Rouge Beauty.

Telsyte senior research manager Sam Yip says such partnerships are a “sign of the times”, with more consumers not only shopping online but looking for discounts and comparing deals.

“To be able to use a channel that has that level of engagement with consumers online is important. For bricks and mortar retailers, it makes sense to do so,” Yip says.

“In the past 24 months, there has been a move beyond the usual shopping carts to things such as group buying and gamification around shopping.

“We’re expecting in the next 24 months there will be many more partnerships with service providers and retailers looking for ways to boost sales.

“It makes sense because they’re following where the consumer is going.”

Yip says retailers and service-based businesses need to work out who their existing customer base is and who they’re marketing to.

“A lot of these sites already have a social media presence. Work out what profile they’re actually targeting and whether that’s compatible with your service or product,” he says.

For group buying and deal sites, Yip points out that there is a backlog of merchants wanting to sign up, with no shortage of businesses wanting to use such platforms.

“[These sites can therefore afford to be] a lot more robust about credit checks,” he says.