Groupon Deals Photographers

[catchlights]

Recently Groupon Deals have become very popular here, there are many similar to such group purchase available, like Mocca Perks, Big Hooha, these heavily discounted deals no longer limit to travel packages or set meals, even photographers also offering such deals now.

these are two photography deals getting a lot of attention lately.

$15 for 90 min Outdoor Photography Shoot by Ashirley Photo (Worth $150)

http://www.groupon.sg/deals/visa/-1...hoot-by-ashirley-photo--worth--150-/715858156

total 579 packages sold.

and

$18 for Family Portrait Studio Photo Shoot or $68 for Bridal Studio Photo Shoot at Picture Me Digital Technology (Worth up to $480)

http://www.groupon.sg/deals/visa/-1...ot-at-picture-me--worth-up-to--480-/715858786

total 241 packages sold.



there are some other photography packages offered thru Mocca Perks but don't really take off, my guess the offered price is not attractive enough.

I start wondering is this a good way to get new customers? after you have slashed your photography package more half price, and give 50% of your earning to Groupon, answering countless phone call and email day and night, and a few hundreds of customers waiting for you to shoot in next few months.

what do you think about this?

Do you think is this a good way to do business?

what kind benefits will the photographer get?

what if many photographers already jump on the bandwagon, will you considering making similar offers also?

if you would to run such deals, what will you do to make the best out of it?

please feel free to contribute your opinions here.

 

[Agetan]

Hereis what I think...

Some may think about it as paying for advertisement and actually cheaper this way as they will get clients.

The limited deliverables seems to work but how many will buy more and what is the price for each... These are questions that the service provider will get bombard at.

I don't think it worth it... Simply because, It is a wrong crowd that you are aiming your service at... They will simply buy someone else who offer the similar service at similar price. Sure, you may end up making some monies but is it worth the trouble.

Regards,

Hart

 

[junliang78]

Here is what I feel.

579 Couples waiting for me to shoot . That is scary and tired .

That will be
579 hours of shooting .
579 hours of traveling .
579 hours of processing ( assuming 1 hour of processing per shoot )
579 hours of photo selection & selling .

2000 hours at 12 hours a day =193 days of work .

Sure will kill whatever passion you have for photography

 

[eleveninth]

Here is what I feel.

579 Couples waiting for me to shoot . That is scary and tired .

That will be
579 hours of shooting .
579 hours of traveling .
579 hours of processing ( assuming 1 hour of processing per shoot )
579 hours of photo selection & selling .

2000 hours at 12 hours a day =193 days of work .

Sure will kill whatever passion you have for photography

wah so cheap.. for so many clients.

well u pay for what you get .

 

[zane80]

They will get tons of training and experience, might be better than monetary.

 

[edutilos-]

what do you think about this?

Do you think is this a good way to do business?

what kind benefits will the photographer get?

what if many photographers already jump on the bandwagon, will you considering making similar offers also?

if you would to run such deals, what will you do to make the best out of it?

please feel free to contribute your opinions here.

A friend once told me that if you want to make a living from photography you generally have to choose - between getting high volume of clients or a certain quality of clients. Both have their perks, it's up to you to decide. I suppose the Groupon photographers are trying to be the first. I never intend to make a living from photography because it is ultimately a great hobby that I won't want to lose (much like how you won't want to marry a good female friend)... But I'd imagine that the first group would be really, really tired...

 

[Edwin Francis]

It may be a coincidence, but there's an ad in Services Wanted for Assistants -- a studio at Lower Delta Road, same as the first ad. Looking for help to handle all the jobs?

 

[Reportage]

Does Groupon have customer satisfaction feedback?

personally i rather charge higher and get fewer jobs. Free time in between jobs is good for the body and soul.

 

[sjackal]

what do you think about this?

Do you think is this a good way to do business?

what kind benefits will the photographer get?

what if many photographers already jump on the bandwagon, will you considering making similar offers also?

if you would to run such deals, what will you do to make the best out of it?

please feel free to contribute your opinions here.

what do you think about this?
IMHO, this is like suicide and dragging the industry down with it. Its like a suicide bomber who dies (whether he knows his going to die or not) but kill other innocents in the process.

Do you think is this a good way to do business?
Not for the creative industry in my opinion.

what kind benefits will the photographer get?
The GO photogrs gets no benefits, will be branded as a cheapo photogr and will be locked in that process and stage.

what if many photographers already jump on the bandwagon, will you considering making similar offers also?
The workload and almost non-existence paybacks will kill the GO photog soon. and if other photogs are foolish enough to jump onto the suicide wagon, they simply fill the black void. They die themselves not enough, they dent the industry when they crash.

Of course, I will not consider making such offers as I do not target such markets and had worked hard to built my name among my targeted clients. Doing this is going to kill any good impression, good branding and goodwill I worked hard to create for the past couple of years.

if you would to run such deals, what will you do to make the best out of it?
Not that I am doing, but thinking out, photogs doing grouped destination shoots for weddings is a viable option due to time sharing and group savings on travel. Several photogrs with a larger pool of clients can probably band together to make good deals beneficial to both photogs and clients. The overall pricing can be lowered a bit, maybe a 10% to 20% savings for the clients, but not DIRT CHEAP like those examples. Other benefits for the clients could be non-monetary, such as pros backing each other up in case of sickness, unexpected situations, etc, skill and equipment pooling, eg some can drive, some can manage time table, some good in flash work, some good in natural light work, equipment back ups, etc, etc.

Maybe some already doing this already...

More thoughts
Noticed in recent months the low balling and low offering had gone really really blatant and its good to see photogrs on Clubsnap had responded unanimously to educate the masses. Hope this goes on and it becomes better for everyone pros and amateurs alike. The low respect, low SELF-respect, and cheapos behaviors had to be stopped and discouraged, or else in a few years time there could be nothing much left.

IMHO.

 

[catchlights]

thanks for the comments,

as far as I know, Groupon wants participant merchants to offer a huge discount for their deals, so you see the deal being advertise like 50-60% discount, in the first deal I quoted, offering a 90% discount, it is so unbelievable but don't forget Groupon will take 50% of sale from the participant merchant, so in the end, each portrait package is only $7.50. :bigeyes:

from my experience, when you dealing with customers come for big bargain, very unlikely they will spend any more than what they already have in mind. you need to spend a lot of time and effort to up-sale.

so even if a photographers decide to go for mass market strategy, I guess this not a right tool to use.

 

[jreamer]

Heres my two cents too. I don't think this is a matter of respect, self respect or being cheap in a bad way. while i do agree that doing what you love as work can ultimately kill the passion, i PERSONALLY feel that there is no need to look at such online 'deals' that are trending so negatively. ultimately, if you're doing this for the money, then take a business approach to the matter.

consumers want value and value can be derived either by paying less for the services or by receiving premium service (with premium charges). i think it helps tremendously to think in the shoes of the client in terms in terms of whats in it for them. obviously such groupon deals are taking the strategy of cost leadership. i suspect the negative reaction is coming about because photographers are either feeling threatened or are in fact overvaluing their own worth. if you want to charge more for your services then please do what it takes to differentiate yourself through branding, quality etc etc. otherwise simple economics will work to kick you out of the market. SIMILARLY, if such groupon deals are not sustainable way of doing things, then this will just be a phase. all it takes is time to tell.

 

[sprewell]

I wrote a blog entry addressing exactly the same issue.

Also provided a rough outline on how to price yourself so that you can become sustainable.

http://www.bythewei.com/wordpress/2011/09/the-business-of-photography-in-singapore/

I definitely think that pricing your photography at such a cheap rate does more harm than good. You get the marketing yes, but marketing yourself as a cheapo photorapher which is not a good thing.

 

[David Kwok]

Why not sign up one and see what it's worth ? Perhaps there is a catch ? I suppose it might be interesting to find out what the catch is...

 

[catchlights]

Why not sign up one and see what it's worth ? Perhaps there is a catch ? I suppose it might be interesting to find out what the catch is...

Here is the fine print, is running batch processing of auto level, auto color and auto contrast and downsize to 450 pixel x 300 pixel plus watermark also consider editing? ;p

Fine Print

Includes:

• 5 edited soft copies on CD
• Unlimited shots
• Choice of selected locations

Choose from these locations:

• Hort Park
• Botanic Gardens
• Fort Canning Hill
• Esplanade
• Singapore Flyer
• Others to be made on request

Valid 6 months. Limit 1 Groupon per person, may buy multiple as gifts. Appointment required. Not valid for eve of and on PH.

 

[sjackal]

Here is the fine print, is running batch processing of auto level, auto color and auto contrast and downsize to 450 pixel x 300 pixel plus watermark also consider editing? ;p

Wah, I was thinking it may be a setup in studio portrait kind of thing where its kinda limited to one place or static where the photographer do not need to move so much so he could take on the huge volumes, since more or less just same location.

So it actually include hiking in Hort Park/Botanic Gardens/Fort Canning Hill!

Oh my! I cannot imagine. I salute the guy.

Something I noticed: the way he worded the "Fine Print":

• 5 edited soft copies on CD
• Unlimited shots
• Choice of selected locations

Means unlimited shots with 5 edited copies of those unlimited shots? If I'm the client, I want 5 different edits! 1st copy BW, 2nd copy BW with toning, 3rd copy standard color, 4th vintage edit, 5th copy extra vibrant colors.

Choice of selected locations, in this case, I select all the available locations! Yes, very good deal!

 

[Agetan]

i suspect the negative reaction is coming about because photographers are either feeling threatened or are in fact overvaluing their own worth.

I don't think we are passing negative comment about why it shouldn't be done.... but many simply shake their head in shock... underpay and overwork will be understatement in this case... poor photographer.

I don't think any one of us feel threaten at all, but what I feel is pity for the photographers who do this as they really don't know what is in store for them.

Perhaps spending the time and shoot is the easiest part of all... but I am sure, service the clients would be a nightmare... as everyone is different and how do you spend time and serve your clients if working under such conditions? I think the clients will get a cranky photographer especially towards the end of the validity... proof me wrong!

Regards,

Hart

 

[sjackal]

I don't think we are passing negative comment about why it shouldn't be done.... but many simply shake their head in shock... I don't think any one of us feel threaten at all, but what I feel is pity for the photographers who do this as they really don't know what is in store for them.

Perhaps spending the time and shoot is the easiest part of all... but I am sure, service the clients would be a nightmare... as everyone is different and how do you spend time and serve your clients if working under such conditions? I think the clients will get a cranky photographer especially towards the end of the validity... proof me wrong!

Regards,

Hart

Indeed. I seriously don't think anyone even the more budget shooters on CS would even feel threatened, coz the price range is way out of league! If anything its just sadness and pity, and a concern about what is becoming of this industry.

On the contrary, when the good advice to charge properly, built value, increase profits, etc is being passed around, its the cheapo photogs who got defensive and felt the need to justify their low prices.

 

[jreamer]

i understand your concerns, i really do. then again its just a different way of doing business and whether theres a need for sadness or pity is pretty much irrelevant 'cause what's not sustainable won't last forever for these folks and if they're doing well then good for them. in my opinion, such competition also isn't gonna hurt nobody if what you guys say is true. 'cause consumers will go to where the value is at the end of the day, be it lower prices or premium services. u can even say they're tapping an uncovered market segment cause i do believe there are consumers who aren't prepared just yet to pay as much as what others would (that makes it a win-win situation for both the photographers and that segment of customers). so i dont understand what the real issue is to question these groupon deals up till now. even if the entire industry were to 'devolve' to such sort of deals, don't u think the real reason would be the demand and not because such deals are available in the first place? please give that point some thought. if anything, such competition only serves to keep everyone on their game and to give consumers what they really want.

 

[sjackal]

i understand your concerns, i really do. then again its just a different way of doing business and whether theres a need for sadness or pity is pretty much irrelevant 'cause what's not sustainable won't last forever for these folks and if they're doing well then good for them. in my opinion, such competition also isn't gonna hurt nobody if what you guys say is true. 'cause consumers will go to where the value is at the end of the day, be it lower prices or premium services. u can even say they're tapping an uncovered market segment cause i do believe there are consumers who aren't prepared just yet to pay as much as what others would. so i dont understand what is the real issue being questioning these groupon deals up till now. even if the entire industry were to 'devolve' to such sort of deals, don't u think the real reason would be the demand and not because such deals are available in the first place? if anything, such competition only serves to keep everyone on their game and to give consumers what they really want.

Maybe you are right.

Maybe in some travel forum there will be travel companies complaining and fussing about the same thing regarding the dirt cheap GroupOn offerings on travel, shouting 'spoilt markets' and the likes.

Doesn't mean we cannot discuss and express what we feel is right and good for photographers.

 

[jreamer]

i'm open to discussion. i have been discussing my point of view in conjunction with whatever i can get out of the 'issue' if u haven't noticed.