2. NEW MEDIA BUSINESS MODELING INSTITUTE
second commercials
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그럼,#앞에서#언급한#레벨업의#3단계를#알아보자.#
레벨1)사용해보기.#레벨2)좋아하기,#레벨3)사랑
하기.#첫#번째#단계에서#레벨업은#고객에게#제품
과#서비스를#사용해#볼#기회를#먼저#제공한다.#이#
때에는#물론#두#번째,#세#번째#단계는#잠겨져#있다.#
시작할#수#없다.##여기에#레벨업의#강점이#있다.#상
인들의#입장에서#이해되는#부분이다.#
레벨업은#첫#번째#단계에서#상인들에게#어떤#청구
도#하지#않는다.#두#번째와#세#번째#단계에서#상인
들은#구매가의#25%를#청구받지만,#이#역시#그루
폰의#절반가격에#해당할#뿐이다.#이는#레벨업이#
단지#고객이#재방문할#때만#수수료를#지불하도록#
한다는#것을#의미한다.#이러한#방식으로,#상인들
은#고객의#원타임#비지팅에서#발생하는#리스크를#
줄일#수#있다.#고객이#할인쿠폰으로#한#번만#싸게#
이용하고#다음에#다시#방문하지#않을#경우의#리스
크를#줄일#수#있다는#것이다.#
소비자#측면에서도#장점이#있다.#소비자가#첫#방
문#때#할인을#받고,#그#방문에#만족했다면,#또#다시#
할인을#받고#재방문할#수#있는#기회를#얻을#수#있
기#때문이다.#이것은#다른#쿠폰#사이트들이#지금
까지#해#본#적#없는#전략이다.#이#재방문이#바로#
레벨2가#되고,#어떠한#가게들은#레벨2에서#레벨1
보다#큰#할인을#줄#때도#있다.#레벨3에#있다고#할#
때#재방문에#따른#할인은#더#커질#수도#있다.#어떻
게#매번#할인을#제공하는#것이#가능하냐고?#그것
은#레벨업이#상인들로부터#받는#수수료율이#적고,#
지역#고객들을#충성고객으로#만들#수#있는#비지니
스#모델을#가지고#있기#때문이다.#
레벨업은#아직까지는#120명의#직원과#미국#내#4
개#도시에서#1,000개의#사업장,#10만명의#가입자
를#유치한#것에#불과하다.#그루폰과#경쟁하려면#
매출은#물론#사업장과#사용자#수에서도#갈#길은#
멀다.#그러나,#우리는#가까운#미래에,#이#새로운#컨
셉이#성공할#수#있는지#아닌지#보게#될#것이다.#아
마도#내##생각에는#이#컨셉이#머지#않아,#쿠폰#비
즈니스#영역에서#유일한#현실적#윈윈#거래로서#새
로운#기회를#가질#것으로#기대한다.#게다가,#새로
운#모델을#가진#이#브랜드가#IT인프라가#갖춰진#
한국,#일본,#싱가포르,#홍콩과#같은#국가들에서#더#
쉽게#적용될#것으로#예상한다.#레벨업이#새로운#
컨셉을#적용하려면,#미국에서#큰#돈을#벌기#전에#
좀#더#빨리#새로운#시장에#진출하는#것이#나을지
도#모르겠다.#왜냐하면,#레벨업이#미국#시장에서
의#지속적인#성장을#보기#위해서라도,#그루폰이#
한#것처럼#아마#유럽과#아시아#투자를#시작해야#
할#것이기#때문이다.##
자,#우리는#이제#어떤#회사가#다이내믹하고#소비
자들의#요구가#충분한#한국#시장에서#비즈니스를#
시작할#것인지#지켜볼#일만#남았다.
Try it, Like it, Love it.
레벨업에#대한#더#나은#이해를#위해서는,#여기#프로모셔널#비디오가#있으니,#아래#링크를#확인하세요.#
레벨업이#어떻게#상인들의#원타임#비지트#리스크#문제를#해결했는지#확인할#수#있습니다.
http://youtu.be/LA9A9ibar8I
Sources
http://gigaom.com/2011/03/10/scvngr-launches-levelup-to-compete-with-groupon/
secondcommercials.com PUBLISHER Kwaan@secondcommercials EDITOR Fatih BORA MARKETING Hyeon@chironalliance
3. NEW MEDIA BUSINESS MODELING INSTITUTE
second commercials
2
secondcommercials.com PUBLISHER Kwaan@secondcommercials EDITOR Fatih BORA MARKETING Hyeon@chironalliance
Last year, I was near Hongdae with my
wife for lunch but we didn’t know what
to eat. She just logged into a website
where you get discount
coupons. She searched for
restaurants near Hongdae and
we got a 40% discount coupon
for a newly opened Italian
restaurant. We had our lunch
and paid 15.000 won instead of
25.000. The meal was great
and the restaurant itself was
fancy.
Since there were not any other
customers we had a chance to have a
small talk with the manager. He said
since the location of the restaurant
was not too good –it was three streets
behind the main road- so it was hard
for people to even know there was a
newly opened restaurant. That’s why
he uploaded his advertisement onto
the discount coupon website. He was
trying to advertise his place.
We thanked him and left. I said we
should go to that restaurant more often
but my wife’s answer was no. She said
she wouldn’t want to pay
25.000 won for the same
meal. She would go to
another restaurant which
would cost 25.000
without a discount or she
would get a new discount
coupon for a different
restaurant unless we get
the same discount next
time in the Italian
restaurant. (Most merchants’ aim for
giving discounts through a discount
coupon websites is promoting their
businesses. So they won’t give the
discount on the second visit.)
The reason why my wife didn’t want to
go to the restaurant was not because
the food was bad or whatever. It was all
about the consumer buyer behaviors.
Once you pay 15.000 for a meal next
time you want to pay 15.000 again not
25.000. This is how most consumers
behave. And that Italian restaurant
probably made no profits on our one-
time visit. It was no win-win deal. The
website won, we –customers- won, and
the restaurant lost. That year we visited
more than 50 cafes, restaurants and
pubs with discount coupons -all one-
time visits-
Someone had to solve this customer
retention and loyalty problem. It was a
Princeton University freshman, Seth
Priebats ch, the founder of SCVNGR.
After accessing a success with the
SCVNGR –a reality based mobile-game
where players check-in at locations and
undertake challenges, puzzles to solve,
location-based photos to snap for
points that lead to awards- he made a
new move into the loyalty-based
discount program. It is called LevelUp.
LevelUp is a mobile payment web app
which you see a QR code when you
make a purchase.
The main idea of LevelUp is to keep
customers coming back often and
spend more. We can say it is a loyalty
program consists of 3 levels. We will
talk about these levels later. First of all,
it is necessary to mention thatLevelUp
has 2 ways to save money. Daily
Credits and Daily Deals.
For Daily Credits, merchants offer a
certain amount of discount -3000won,
5000won,10000won or more-regardless
to the customers’ purchase and every
time they visit the merchant. Of course
you have to pay with LevelUp which is
linked to your credit or debit card .
Daily Deals work in the same way with
Groupon–largest deal-of-the -day
website with 35 million registered users
all over the world-. There will be a
discounted menu or item decided by
the merchant. For example; the
customer pays 5.000won for a
hamburger which is normally
10.000won.
For the deal, Groupon charges
merchants 50% of the purchase. For
example; a service which is normally
100.000won is sold for half price on
Groupon. 50.000won is split by
Groupon and the merchant. So the
merchant will make only 25.000won
which is actually four times more
expensive.
The merchants have created one-time visiting of prospectors via discount coupon.
But, it was no win-win deals.
How about a loyalty-based discount program with mobile-commerce?
Would it be better to both of the consumers and the merchants ?
Insights of Fatih
4. NEW MEDIA BUSINESS MODELING INSTITUTE
second commercials
2
As we said before there are 3 steps.
Level1 ‘Try it’, Level2 ‘Like it, Level 3
‘Love it’. As you can understand from
the name of Level1, the customer tries
the product or the service. And of
course Level2 and Level3 are locked at
the beginning.
Here is the strength of LevelUp from the
merchants point.
LevelUp doesn’t charge the merchant
for the first level – first purchase-. For
Level2 and Level3 the merchant will be
charged %25 of the purchase which is
still half of Groupon.
This means LevelUp gets paid only
when it brings the customers back . In
this way the merchants will reduce their
only one-time visit risk .
From the consumer point, you visit the
place for the first time, get the discount,
and if you are satisfied you can visit it
with a discount again which other
discount coupon websites don’t offer.
This re-visit is called Level2 and in
some cases, customers get even bigger
discounts on the second visit. If you
visit the place again you will be on the
Level3 which means you can even get
higher discounts . How can giving
discount every time be possible for
merchants? It is possible because -as
we said before- LevelUp charges less,
and the business has more local
customers.
So far LevelUp has only 120 employees,
1.000 businesses and 100.000
registered users in four cities in the US.
LevelUp has a long way to go if it wants
to compete with Groupon in terms of
the revenue and the number of
merchants and users.
Near future will show us if this new
concept can work or not. In my
opinion , it has a big opportunity since
this concept is the only real win-win
deal in the sector so far. Moreover ; this
brand new model can easily be adopted
in the countries with a well-developed
IT infrastructure like Korea, Japan,
Singapore, Hong Kong etc. And to
adopt the model in these markets
investors and IT firms better to speed-
up a bit before LevelUp makes a big
money in the US. Because LevelUp will
probably start investing in Europe and
Asia –just like Groupon did- if it sees a
continuous growth in the US.
Let’s wait and see which company will
start this business in Korea where
market is dynamic enough and
consumers are demanding.
Try it, Like it, Love it.
For a better understanding here is a promotional video for level-up.
Check out how LevelUp solves only one-time visit risk for merchants.
http://youtu.be/LA9A9ibar8I
Sources
http://gigaom.com/2011/03/10/scvngr-launches-levelup-to-compete-with-groupon/
secondcommercials.com PUBLISHER Kwaan@secondcommercials EDITOR Fatih BORA MARKETING Hyeon@chironalliance
