OVERVIEW IOU

IOU offers complete transparency utilizing Blockchain for its Group Loyalty offers with clear visibility, security, speed of processing and traceability of transactions through the decentralized register of all sources. IOU is Offering Merchants and Consumers clear advantages over the traditional e-commerce environment making transactions Cost-Effective and Secure while building ultimate trust between Merchants and Consumers.

Rating mechanism would boost a trust even further. Cost-effectiveness of transactions and global reach of consumers beats the conventional digital payment methods as it removes the middlemen/payment processors that take a big cut.

Not only consumers would feel secure and get significant savings but also they could use their purchased IOUs as actual monetary assets which they will be able to trade with other consumers or sell on the exchange. This is a tremendous benefit of IOU Platform.

Loyalty factor is another huge benefit allowing both consumers and merchants to get rewarded for generating top rated, quality offers and transactions on IOU Exchange.

It is hard not to mention the ability for Merchants and Consumers to donate some IOUs for those in need and get rewarded for philanthropic activities. Company would also place donation requests on special causes and would reward Merchants and Consumers, as well as match such donations to benefit those causes.

GROUPON FACTOR

Groupon, a true success story of pre Blockchain era, has taken advantage of the collective buying power of its users to offer deep discounts for services and products. The business model is a combination of coupon discounts and group buying. Coupon discounts and group buying are old concepts which date back to the late 19th century and early 20th century, respectively. In 1887, Asa Candler, a partner with the Coca-Cola Company, was the first to utilize coupon discounts as an advertisement strategy. Candler made use of various avenues such as magazines, mail, employees and sales representatives to distribute complimentary coupons to potential customers.

With over 100M total subscribers across over 500 cities in more than 50 countries, Groupon is the largest player in the local deals market. The company, a pure-play on the local deals segment with a proven success. Groupon offers “Deal of the Day” and other promotions on their local markets and thereby guaranteeing revenue and large number of customers for the local businesses. Local businesses do not have to pay upfront fees and need to share revenue with Groupon only if the deal achieves the minimum subscription. Groupon offers considerable savings to consumers who can discover services/merchandise that were not known to them earlier.

Groupon backbone of success has been its strong partnership that it created with local businesses breaking into new markets by researching the local market and identifying successful local businesses which are approached by the Groupon sales personnel. Groupon is best suited for high fixed cost businesses and business where the customer acquisition cost is very high and businesses have to advertise a lot and their deals offer them a channel to reach out a target consumer based in the local market without paying any upfront fees. Groupon is also best suited for businesses thriving on repeat customers such as spas and restaurants.

CUSTOMER LOYALTY

It is a key issue as it takes lots of efforts for companies to make a new customer and maintain the same customer for long time.

One of the reasons why ecommerce companies face the struggle while building trust and loyalty with customer, is because a seller and a buyer don’t know each other, nor they can see each other while making a transaction unlike street-shopping. It takes few transactions, time and plenty of efforts by the company to build the customer trust and loyalty8.

ACHIEVING PROFITABLE LONG-TERM GROWTH

Increasing sales is one way to grow the business but in the end, what matters most is profitability. Online retailers must always find ways to cut inventory costs, improve marketing efficiency, reduce overhead, reduce shipping costs, and control order returns.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY & PARTNERS

Some online retailers may face growth challenges because their technology is limiting them, or they’ve hired the wrong partners/agencies to help them manage their projects. Retailers wanting to achieve growth must build on a good technology foundation. They must choose the right shopping cart solution, inventory management software, email software, CRM systems, analytics and so much more. In addition, hiring the wrong partners or agencies to help them implement projects may also limit their growth. Online retailers must choose carefully who to work with.