By Patrick Avenell
Following on from his criticism of aggregating site Zanui.com.au, John Winning, the CEO of Appliances Online, has come out swinging today at group buying sites. Never one to pull punches, Winning has labelled group buying a “fad” that won’t be around for long.
In a post on his must-read blog, Winning.com.au, the young businessmen did not hold back once he had these daily deals sites in his crosshairs.
“I don’t like the deals space, and I don’t think it’ll be around in the longterm,” Winning said. “[I believe] that group buying won’t – cannot – always be as big as the hype. Nor do I believe that it’s a great business model.”
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Winning said that he has participated in a daily deal promotion in the past and that the experience was not good.
“Many people, myself included, have run deals and sold plenty of stock for very little margin and massive headaches.
“Actual, returning customers were probably outnumbered by the sales calls from other group buying sites that followed. I soon wished I’d never run it in the first place. I am yet to find a vendor that enjoys a healthy relationship with a group buying site.”
Winning also cast a pearl towards those retailers that are promoting themselves as the cheapest around, saying “anything which survives on being the cheapest in my opinion is destined to fail”.