Gumtree launches social media based daily deals
Online classifieds website Gumtree.com is launching a “unique” daily deals service that will use social media to ask consumers to suggest the offers they would like to see.
The launch of Gumtree Daily Deals is its first foray into the populated deals market, where it will take on the likes of Groupon, LivingSocial, Amazon, eBay and more for market share and a slice of the growing revenues in the area.
Gumtree Daily Deals will be the “first” service to consult its customers on the deals they would like to be offered, via its Facebook page.
A selection of deals will also be trialled by a group of volunteer bloggers, dubbed the Crash Test Gummies, who will write reviews of their experiences to increase engagement with the service.
Hamish Stone, Gumtree’s head of marketing, says: “Consumers are becoming increasingly savvy to the offers that are available, both on the high street and online, so it is vital to offer a unique and different platform in this competitive space.”
Daily Deals is currently available in Brighton, Manchester, Edinburgh and Belfast. The Gumtree community on the flagship website will soon be asked to vote on which other regions should have the service activated next.
Gumtree is currently the “most visited” classifieds site, with 13.7 million visitors a month, according to comScore.
Groupon recently introduced a rewards scheme to encourage its users to redeem deals from their merchants more than once, in a bid to revive falling traffic numbers.
Rival LivingSocial also said it is going to introduce a raft of product innovations as it looks to overtake Groupon as the market leader for deals in the UK by the end of the year.
