Steeple Market Jump-on-it-deal Vermontopia.com June 29th Details inside

[mkr]

I got my 5 and at this time 494 have been sold!!

[MikeF9]

I bought 3.

[fletchtb]

I'd be curious to understand the economic impact of this deal on the store itself. We are all paying $10 for $20 worth of goods from Steeple Market. It is my understanding that the store actually only gets half of what we pay, so in this case $5. At this point almost 550 certificates have been sold, so Steeple Market will be selling $11,000 worth of goods and only take in $2750 and it is only lunch time.

The promise of these 1-day deal sites is that you will get new (hopefully repeat) customers through the exposure on the website (wcax.com and vermontopia.com), 5-6 advertisements on Channel 3 TV, and the value of the deal itself. I think the reality of these kinds of deals may be playing out today. Local customers who already shop at Steeple Market and would spend the $20-$100 (depending on how many certificates they bought) without the deal are jumping on the offer because it is so financially advantageous to them. I am certainly one of those customers as I imagine most of the posters in this thread are.

I hope Steeple Market will generate a lot of new customers as a result of today's offer and I really hope it doesn't end up just being a costly "customer appreciation" event for their existing customers.

[Chris Santee]

Thank you, Pierre.

[Henry]

fletchtb - You have said exactly what I was thinking, but couldn't put it down in meaningful words.  I certainly am not a new customer and look at it as a customer appreciation day.  Looks to me like the customer & WCAX are the winners and Pierre is the loser in this game.

[mkr]

Advertising costs $$ and certainly getting the word out to surrounding towns about Steeple Market will generate new customers with Pierre doing this. Those in North Fairfax may drive to Fairfax now instead of St. Albans.  Those in Fletcher/Georgia/Cambridge/Westford may head to Steeple now beacause of the coupon and now become regular customers.  Existing customers are apt to spend more since they have the coupon as well. 

It really is a win win for the customers, new customers, and Steeple Market!

[fletchtb]

I hope he wins in the short term with this deal. I am confident that Steeple Market will win in the long term!!!

It is a GREAT store and an incredible improvement over what was already a great store prior to the fire and rebuild. We are all going to continue to shop there in the future for years and years to come. At the same time I hope they get some new customers out of the equation.

My earlier post was just a commentary about this 1-day deal site trend and how I don't believe they are able to deliver on what they are selling to businesses.

[Cat]

We just bought 5 of them & it is up to 638 sold!

[Torrie Dennis]

don't forget some of the people that buy these and don't use them or misplace them and find them after they expire. That's a win because the customer spent the money  for the coupon but didn't get the free product.

[fletchtb]

Over 1000 certificates sold and for hours left to go!

[MikeF9]

You may end up using the certificates for things you might not regularly buy. Love Ben & Jerry's ice cream, but it is expensive. I used my first coupon for two Ben & Jerry's and two cases of Arizona Ice Tea on sale. Paid an extra 3 bucks.

[Mike Raburn]

WAIT A MINUTE.........HOLD ON,,,,

ST Luke's is a STORE now?

SHUT........ THE FRONT DOOR!!!

What the What??