Are We Turning Restaurants Into Department Stores?
Its 7:00am when you first smell that fresh coffee brewing. Half asleep and groggy eyed, you quietly pour the first cup of piping hot goodness. As the mug warms your hands, you give a long morning stretch, and lazily open your laptop. The calm peacefulness of early morning is soothing like crawling in fresh sheets after a hot shower. Quiet, serene, the morning is yours. Now it’s time to wake up, sleepyheads!
Like most Americans, your first morning task is to check email, delete spam, and cipher what really matters. Without fail, there is a coupon in your inbox offering 53% off at your favorite local restaurant.
Hook, line, and sinker you’re sold. Is this really a good thing? Are we turning restaurants into department stores?
The Department Store Effect:
When do you buy new clothes? Do you wait for sales/coupons or pay full price? The logical argument is to wait for the sale, and that’s not our fault. We love getting deals…it’s hard wired into the human psyche.
By bombarding us with coupons, department stores have brainwashed us to only buy during sales. Talk about the biggest marketing backfire of all time!
Are Restaurants The Next Department Stores?
I hear more and more people saying “I’ll just wait for the Groupon.” Here is a quick lesson in Marketing 101:
“As consumers slowly adapt to deep discounts, it begins to change expectations. Once our expectations change, so do our buying habits…which is difficult to reverse.”
The idea “why would I ever pay full price” is dangerous. Are these newly cropping up coupon sites creating this expectation in diners?
Happy Hour is Different
It’s no secret, restaurants and bars have been promoting happy hour specials for years. Until the recent rise in group buying, this was a widely acceptable form of marketing (that keeps regulars coming back daily!). Happy hour will never die, but the shift to deep discounts is flat out scary from a marketing standpoint.
The Smart Alternative
The smart alternative is to focus on specials you already run like daily happy hour. Use online tools to create awareness of current specials and invite customers in. Get creative. Why not create daily specials on the fly? Focus on creating a loyal customer base, and not customers looking for a one-time discount.
In my opinion, I fear if we continue to offer deep discounts, consumers will quit eating out unless they can find 53% off. Our buying habits shift with expectations. This could be devastating for mom and pop restaurants that lack the budget of large chains.
What do you guys think as customers? As restaurant owners? Please leave your comments below, I am intrigued by this conversation!
Tags: advertising, group buying, groupon, restaurant advertising, Restaurant Marketing, restaurants, Trends
halle-fing-lujah someone else is getting on this warpath!!! I call this The Bloomingdale’s Syndrome because even if I don’t have a coupon at Bloomingdale’s, I get them to give me all the discounts available or I walk out of the store empty-handed.
Chefs: STOP THE MADNESS!
Thanks for stopping by Ellen!
It’s true…once we expect discounts, the thought of paying full price becomes ridiculous. While I don’t believe our expectations have yet shifted with restaurants, they definitely have with department stores like Bloomingdale’s.
What do you think? Is this path dangerous or will people still pay full price?
If opening a new restaurant, it makes sense to include mass couponing into the mix as part of the marketing. Urbanbacon is right in just getting your specials out there instead of paying print or other media. Ultimately, TV wins the day, and cable is a great cheap medium, but still costs. If you are an established joint, NEVER use a mass coupon, it only kills the bottom line folks. Getting to the ‘generation jones’ is tough – the 55-70 year old crowd, so print still works, but to the younger college set – internet baby!
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