The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.
Name: Aisle50
Quick Pitch: Aisle50 brings group buying to the grocery store.
Genius Idea: Integrating with store loyalty cards.
Almost any niche you can think of has a daily deals site dedicated to it. Digital goods, music, socially conscious products and meals are just a few of the many examples.
But former Forbes journalist Christopher Steiner was surprised to find an open opportunity in grocery stores, which house products backed by some of the biggest marketing budgets.
He and his co-founders Riley Scott and George Korsnick decided to take that opportunity by creating Aisle50, a daily deals site for grocery store products that launched this week on the East Coast in 120 Lowe’s Food Stores. Customers buy daily deals on the Aisle50 site and use them by swiping Lowes loyalty cards they already have. In essence, it’s an electronic take on the coupons that many customers have already gotten into the habit of searching for.
Will customers go through the trouble of buying a deal on Aisle50 for the sake of saving, as in the case of its first deal, $3 on a giant tub of yogurt? Steiner thinks so.
“Groupon and other daily deals sites have offered deals that were for values of about $6 or $8 and sold thousands of them,” he argues. “There’s been plenty of low-value deals that sell very, very well. It doesn’t seem to be a barrier for consumers.”
Of course, Groupon has also noticed this. After Aisle50 got started on filling possibly the only potentially lucrative somewhat open space in the daily deal market, Groupon launched a deal with a New England grocery chain that integrated with its loyalty card. The company has also ran grocery-genre deals, such as a discount on home delivery it offered for an upscale market in Chicago earlier this year.
The major difference between Aisle50 and Groupon’s pilot loyalty card deal in New England is that Aisle50 works with the companies that make the products. It’s more a deal for yogurt than it is a deal for the local supermarket chain. That, and the fact that Groupon recently filed for a $750 million IPO while Aisle50 recently graduated from startup accelerator Y Combinator.
Steiner doesn’t see the potential competition as a deal breaker.
“I dont know that it’s exclusive,” he says. “If I’m a grocery store and I have built the IT for these loyalty card programs and I have the capability to do these kind of deals, it’s to my advantage to run as many popular programs on this card as possible. Because if your competitors don’t have these deals and you do, you are going to capture incremental customers who might be tech savy.”
Image courtesy of Flickr/Artbandito
Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark
The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.
More About: Aisle50, group buying, y combinatorFor more Startups coverage:Follow Mashable Startups on TwitterBecome a Fan on FacebookSubscribe to the Startups channelDownload our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad
Posted on Fri, 19 Aug 2011 03:06:39 +0000 at http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/DqQfitpG6SM/
Comments: http://mashable.com/2011/08/18/aisle50/#comments
Name: Aisle50
Quick Pitch: Aisle50 brings group buying to the grocery store.
Genius Idea: Integrating with store loyalty cards.
Almost any niche you can think of has a daily deals site dedicated to it. Digital goods, music, socially conscious products and meals are just a few of the many examples.
But former Forbes journalist Christopher Steiner was surprised to find an open opportunity in grocery stores, which house products backed by some of the biggest marketing budgets.
He and his co-founders Riley Scott and George Korsnick decided to take that opportunity by creating Aisle50, a daily deals site for grocery store products that launched this week on the East Coast in 120 Lowe’s Food Stores. Customers buy daily deals on the Aisle50 site and use them by swiping Lowes loyalty cards they already have. In essence, it’s an electronic take on the coupons that many customers have already gotten into the habit of searching for.
Will customers go through the trouble of buying a deal on Aisle50 for the sake of saving, as in the case of its first deal, $3 on a giant tub of yogurt? Steiner thinks so.
“Groupon and other daily deals sites have offered deals that were for values of about $6 or $8 and sold thousands of them,” he argues. “There’s been plenty of low-value deals that sell very, very well. It doesn’t seem to be a barrier for consumers.”
Of course, Groupon has also noticed this. After Aisle50 got started on filling possibly the only potentially lucrative somewhat open space in the daily deal market, Groupon launched a deal with a New England grocery chain that integrated with its loyalty card. The company has also ran grocery-genre deals, such as a discount on home delivery it offered for an upscale market in Chicago earlier this year.
The major difference between Aisle50 and Groupon’s pilot loyalty card deal in New England is that Aisle50 works with the companies that make the products. It’s more a deal for yogurt than it is a deal for the local supermarket chain. That, and the fact that Groupon recently filed for a $750 million IPO while Aisle50 recently graduated from startup accelerator Y Combinator.
Steiner doesn’t see the potential competition as a deal breaker.
“I dont know that it’s exclusive,” he says. “If I’m a grocery store and I have built the IT for these loyalty card programs and I have the capability to do these kind of deals, it’s to my advantage to run as many popular programs on this card as possible. Because if your competitors don’t have these deals and you do, you are going to capture incremental customers who might be tech savy.”
Image courtesy of Flickr/Artbandito
Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark
The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.
More About: Aisle50, group buying, y combinatorFor more Startups coverage:Follow Mashable Startups on TwitterBecome a Fan on FacebookSubscribe to the Startups channelDownload our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad
Posted on Fri, 19 Aug 2011 03:06:39 +0000 at http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/DqQfitpG6SM/
Comments: http://mashable.com/2011/08/18/aisle50/#comments