Attention Oak Park Shoppers!

So I was listening to my favorite band and trying to figure out what exactly makes their music great.  The thing I like about this band is that it has so many influences of old style rock that even though you know their music is original, you swear that you’ve heard it before.  Think about some of your favorite music and try to pinpoint what separates them from ALL the other music of the world.  The ability to take something established and expand and improve upon it without taking away the essence is what I think separates good bands from great ones.  This is kind of how I think of marketGroupie: it took something established (social rewards) and expanded and improved upon it without taking away its essence.

You’re all familiar with social rewards.  They are incentives companies give to a customer, such as discounts or giveaways, in exchange for the ability of that customer to draw in more customers. Such programs are growing in popularity thanks to the vast array of social media outlets and the internet.

Sounds like a great idea, right? That’s because it is. Sites like Groupon and Living Social follow this model and are very successful. But it could be better. As it stands right now the customers are at the mercy of the site, having only a limited amount of time to choose select deals. If they stop to think about whether or not they want it, they miss the deal. The businesses are also at the mercy of the site; they must offer a deep discount for the customer and for the site. So they wind up making almost no profit and have to hope that people like the product enough to come back and pay full price, which isn’t always the case.  So there you go. The social rewards paradigm is beautiful and imperfect.

I know what you’re thinking: “Where does marketGroupie fit into this?”

I’m glad you asked! marketGroupie takes some of the imperfections and fixes them without taking away the essence of the idea. marketGroupie has select partner stores where groupies can go and earn rewards; the more groupies, the higher the rewards. This is better for the customer because there’s no time limit and the deal is expanded to the entire store, not just one item. This is also better for the business because the customers will be coming back to the same store over and over again. It’s also a discount that’s attractive and sustainable for both the customer and the business. AND it’s an idea that Oak Park can decide to capitalize on.

So our friends at Oak Park now have the ability to give their customers a discount that will get them in the door and keep them coming back instead of a onetime deal that nets them no profit. And Oak Park customers are not constrained by a time limit or a single item in the store and can enjoy their discount time and time again.

Just like my favorite band augments rock music without changing its essence, marketGroupie augments the idea of social rewards without changing its essence.  If you are someone who’s been on board with social rewards, then by all means rock with marketGroupie.  Coming soon to select stores in Oak Park!

Hello Oak Park Shoppers!

How many of you are dog lovers?  What about cat lovers?  If so, then you’ll love one of marketGroupie’s partner stores: Oak Park’s own Sirius Cooks.  No, not THAT Sirius, but if ever there was a montage about how Sirius Cooks conducted business, that’d be one heck of a background song to pick.

Regardless of music taste, Sirius Cooks is a fantastic place for those who enjoy only the best for their furry little friends.  You can stop by and pick up some home-made dog and cat treats as well as suppers cooked fresh every day.  And this stuff isn’t made with yesterday’s newspaper; it’s made with human-grade organic ingredients.  They’ll never sell something that they wouldn’t personally use themselves. So you don’t have to worry about recalls or bad things happening to your pets because somebody is trying to save a few cents.

But their care doesn’t stop after you walk out the door.  Sirius’ organic ingredients also ensure that the business is gentle on the environment.  And last but not least is that Sirius understands the impact it can have on the community.  They are constantly raising awareness of different injustices on animals and recalls of various pet food/supplies; you can learn more on their blog.

They do awesome things for your pets.  They do awesome things for the environment.  They do awesome things for Oak Park.  And now they’re doing an awesome thing by partnering with us!  If you sign up with marketGroupie, you and a bunch of your (human) buddies can receive a certain percentage off at Sirius Cooks so your (animal) buddies can enjoy themselves some delicious treats and suppers that will ensure a healthy and happy life.

“What’s ‘marketGroupie’?” you’re probably asking.  Over a series of posts I’ll let you in on what we hope will become Oak Park shopping’s worst kept secret in the history of secrets, that is, the marketGroupie formula:

Social circles = Money in your pocket

Our idea is simple: you and your friends form a team to shop at one or more of marketGroupie’s partner stores, the team receives a spending target, then once your team hits the spending target, each team member is rewarded with cash back credits at the store.  The reward amount that each team member receives is based on how much they contributed to the target. It’s fun and easy and you don’t even have to shop together at the same time.  Not only that, but you can hit your targets repeatedly and watch your cash rewards bank fill up! If your friends just aren’t into shopping, you could always go on your own to earn rewards too.  Just remember though, the more friends on your team, the higher percent cash back you can earn every time you hit the target.  And this isn’t just some group coupon one time deal, this is something you can take advantage of time and time again.

Right now, we’re in the process of blazing the trail between social circles and saving money.  But if you want to blaze a trail, you need to take the time to clear out the brush.  We’re working on launching the alpha stage with a bunch of awesome stores in Oak Park, Illinois in September 2012.

So for all of you who love shopping local in Oak Park and have been trying to get your friends in the city to join you, why not become a trail blazer with us?  And if you don’t live near Oak Park, let us know you’re out there.  We want you to help us color the map!

It’s great to see social rewards startups getting funded.  Endorse (http://goo.gl/Lo49N), Curebit (http://goo.gl/jd2At), and Topguest (http://goo.gl/nxoya) to name a few!

Companies are searching for a way to access the social networks that are influencing your buying decisions.  David Rowan and Tom Cheshire wrote a great article about this on wired.co.uk……check it out at http://goo.gl/eab5O.  It’s a bit of a long read but well worth it for any retailer interested in how to leverage this space to improve your business.

Sundeep Kapur over at Mashable offers some simple things to avoid for companies trying to promote their brand through social media.  http://goo.gl/76rQl. May seem like common sense but probably traps that a lot of retailers fall into!