A new Galway-based deals company has entered the growing online deals market dominated by a number of large global players. Through their website www.livingitup.ie the Galway company offers deeply discounted deals to subscribers in the Galway area. They are based at the Innovation in Business Centre at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, a hub for Innovative start-up businesses.
All deals are purchased online using PayPal.. A voucher is then sent to the purchaser by email which can be printed off or brought in to the provider of the deal on a smartphone. Typically a deal is available to purchase for two days and can be used anytime between six and 12 months, depending on the terms of the individual deal.
“Having seen the success of similar companies in the US in particular I felt that there was an opportunity to compete in this space at a local level. It struck me as odd to think that local businesses were connecting with local Galway people through a global intermediary”, said Fionntan D’Arcy, co-founder of LivingItUp.
“There is more to the business than simply offering big discounts. It is more about offering people incentives to try new experiences, be it a different restaurant or salon that they never tried before, or something entirely new like yoga or flying lessons. The key is offering variety and showcasing the fantastic array of choice available to people in Galway”
The fact that LivingItUp has a database of subscribers only from the Galway area means that they are addressing one of the key criticisms of this type of marketing. A phenomenon known as “deal tourism”. For a local restaurant, for instance, there is not much value in offering incentives to tourists, who ultimately can never become a regular customer,” he said.
“Being small has its advantages in terms of the flexibility that we can exhibit in our deal structure and also in terms of the commissions we charge for running a deal”. The last thing a business wants to do is to sell hundreds of vouchers for a deal, only to realise in six or twelve months time that they have been “busy fools” working for the deal’s company.
“It is important therefore to plan any deal carefully but more importantly to consider how to retain customers after they appear for the initial deal.” said Mr D’Arcy.
“Ideally every deal should satisfy all three parties involved. It must be a good deal for the purchaser, the merchant who offers the deal and for the deal company who promotes it. It is this philosophy that leads us to think that we can compete at a local level in a fiercely competitive market.”
At the moment, LivingItUp offers three separate deals per week from local businesses in Galway on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Be sure to log on to www.livingitup.ie and enter your email address so as not to miss out on any deals.
You can also join “LivingItUp” on Facebook and “like” them to enter a weekly draw for some great prizes from Galway businesses.
The company also donates €1,000 to a charity, or club or organisation nominated by its users. This month, the prize went to the Mary Linnane Memorial Cup. Cup, an annual hurling match between the hurlers of Gort and Belmullet. The funds are donated to The Mayo Cystic Fibrosis Building Fund. The fund was set up to build a much needed centre in the West of Ireland for Cystic Fibrosis patients.
