Wowcher, the British deals site bought by DMGT last year, claims it has seen “explosive growth” since tying up with the media firm. Speaking to StrategyEye at the Social Media World Forum (SMWF) in London, MD Roland Bryan says that the firm was not initially “100% convinced” by the group buying space, but that the firm was now seeing a revenue growth rate of more than 10% month over month, though he does not give specific figures.
“What we’ve seen over the last 12 months – particularly over the last 6 months – is a real explosive growth in terms of our revenue delivery and the markets we’ve been in,” says Bryan. “We’re pretty satisfied with a better-than double digit revenue growth per month and strong growth in subscriber acquisition.“
Active in the UK since 2009, Wowcher competes in much the same space as deals sites LivingSocial and Groupon, although its acquisition in March last year by DMGT means it can leverage a number of strong media properties such as the Metro and the Daily Mail to its advantage.
“We leverage our newspaper assets to promote both national and local merchants,” says Bryan. “It’s incredibly appealing to a local merchant, the prospect of a nice hair salon getting space in the Metro on a weekday, which normally they wouldn’t be able to afford to do. Not only can we prove the direct ROI coming out of daily deals, but that there’s a real brand benefit.”
In spite of Bryan’s optimism, the deals sector has had a turbulent year overall, with reports that 800 deals sites closed down in the first half of 2011 alone. Consolidation appears set to continue, with larger firms such as Groupon, LivingSocial and Google gobbling up firms in the space. LivingSocial announced its acquisition of the remaining stake in Australian deals site Jump On It earlier this week.
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