On the eve of Groupon’s IPO, I was contacted by a ThinkNear, a tech startup, that’s looking to dominate the “daily deals” market within the mobile segment. Only this time, it’s not your run-of-the-mill, gyp-off-your-merchant type of startup. It’s one that actually focuses on merchants and geo-targets the ads to you, the diner.
I actually randomly read about ThinkNear on TechCrunch a few months back after they secured their Series A funding. A whopping $1.6 million! Throughout the past year, they’ve been aggregating data from merchants (such as traffic flow, busy and slow times, and redemption data to see which deals work) and translating that data into targeting coupons towards the unsuspecting walkerby. Simply put…
“ThinkNear lets merchants tell the system when they normally experience slow times (and it also looks at other data like weather) to spit out offers to people nearby. Consumers don’t have to sign up for anything either, they just see the offers as normal mobile banner ads on their phones.”
I had a chance to speak with CEO and founder, Eli Portnoy tonight:
How big is your merchant base?
Eli: We currently have 400 local merchants set up in the New York City area. Roughly half of those merchants are restaurants. We’ve traditionally considered ourselves merchant based until recently, when we decided we should open it up to consumers who can access 7-8 deals within a block. Restaurants range from Le Cirque to Pizza World, so there’s a wide variety.
What distinguishes you from Groupon for the average consumer?
There are two main differences for consumers. First, we are data driven and merchant focused. Merchants like us because we’re filling the restaurants during off-peak traffic. We also have much more deals in the NYC area than Groupon has, which is a function of the ease and simplicity we provide for our merchants.
Second, there’s no middleman in this transaction, which makes this a seamless experience for both the merchant and consumer. It’s all mobile and can be done within seconds. Once you find the deal, you download it, and you show it to the merchant. It’s as easy as that.
How can consumers get the best deal?
Deals change based on time of day. You can see a 10% discount at 12:30pm (lunch time) but at 2pm, that deal may change to 30%. In short, the best deals are found during “off-peak”hours.
What does this have to do you ask? Well, ThinkNear is in the process of launching a site that aggregates the deals for consumers.
So, we took it for a testdrive tonight (we being Jerry and me). To access the deals, go to http://nyc.thinknear.com. They’re in the processing of developing an app for your mobile device.
Pros:
- Gotta love the variety of deals. If I don’t have a set place to go for dinner, I can definitely see myself saving a few bucks with this service. The deals also seem pretty good. The highest I’ve seen is 30%, but it is a Thursday night, so I assume the deals right now are actually at the low-end.
- I LOVE that I don’t have to sign up for an account with them. Better yet, they don’t plaster that giant box across the screen that demands your email address so that they can automatically subscribe you to deals.
- The site is extremely easy to use. It would literally take me under 30 seconds to find a deal, download it, and walk into a restaurant.
Cons:
- The search function only enables you to provide a zip-code. I don’t know about you, but my brain doesn’t naturally alert me when I’m stepping into a different zip-code. However, I’ve been told that since this is really meant to be a smartphone service so the zip-code feature is there primarily if your GPS feature doesn’t work.
- Some zip-codes that I searched didn’t produce any results. This issue should be easily resolved in time as they sign on more merchants.
- Some of the deals are… misleading? In the example above, Gusto Ristorante had a discount for $8. However, when I received the email code, it told me that the deal was for $22 for a 2 course meal. It’d be nice if they could specify specifically before I sign up. There were also some typos.
- This is really what confuses me. The expiration was at 7:37pm. When I searched for the deal, it was 8:37pm…
To get a good idea of whether or not this would change someone’s mind to eat somewhere, I asked Jerry via gchat:
me: whats your zipcode
Jerry: 10011
me: pizza gaga by you?
Jerry: never been there, dont plan to go either. better places nearby
Jerry: grimaldi’s if i want pizza
me: how about gusto ristorante
Jerry: ive seen gusto somewhere on my way to school. don’t plan to go either
me: would u be more likely to go to these places if they gave u like $8 off your meal?
Jerry: YES! 8 bucks off is legit
me: yeah?
Jerry: assuming the bill is near 15-20, depends on how much their entrees are
me: for pastas we’re talking about $15-20. meat, we’re talking about $15-23
Jerry: mmm maybe gusto. i like my meals under 12 bucks, ya dig?
me: i dig
Well there you have it. If ThinkNear can sway Jerry, it can probably sway just about anyone. Overall, there are definitely some kinks to work out and some more trial and error runs before they figure out what consumers are looking for. But overall, this is an awesome service if you’re constantly on the go and eating out. There are also services for salons and spas. Only problem is, I don’t have a smartphone…
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