Biggest daily deals player shuns GDDA code of conduct

In a bid to improve its reputation with both consumers and merchants, industry trade association the Global Daily Deal Association (GDDA) has produced a voluntary, self-regulatory code of conduct. But not all are on-board.

by Helen Leggatt

GDDA daily deals code of conduct.png The GDDA hopes the code of conduct will promote "fair, honest and ethical best practice" among merchants and prevent the bad press that misleading marketing in the daily deals industry has caused of late. The code is the first task for the GDDA, which was formed following huge demand at the DD Summit Europe in March this year.

"By signing up to the Code of Conduct, businesses are making a commitment to the future of this industry; the GDDA and Code of Conduct are crucial to the sustainability and credibility of the daily deal industry," said Stavros Prodromou, CEO of the GDDA.

The code will ensure consumers are provided with the detailed information required to make an informed purchase decision, and that all communications are clear and accurate.

Furthermore, merchants are required to adhere to and clearly display appropriate policies and procedures while providing comprehensive complaints and refund policies.

However, one of the biggest players on the daily deals scene isn't on-board with the GDDA's code of conduct.

Groupon, which has had its fair share of bad publicity, has announced it will not be participating.

According to the company, "We take customer and partner satisfaction very seriously and support the concept of a global code of conduct. Any code needs to be robust, enforceable and ensure the highest possible protection. At Groupon we are constantly improving our standards and approaches to lead the industry in ensuring the best possible levels of partner and customer service. We will be continuing our engagement with regulators, retail and consumer organizations. We welcome these types of initiatives and will evaluate them on an ongoing basis." (via TechCrunch)

Tags: best practice, consumer protection, daily deals, ecommerce, marketing regulation

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In general the daily deals
model has some major flaws – they give everyone 50% off to try to build word of
mouth marketing – but the reality is that you could get so much more if you
focused the largest discounts to the biggest social influencers. Check out SocialLadder – an iPhone based
platform that recently did a soft-launch.
They have a platform that allows local merchants to post offers and
target those offers directly to social influencers. This is the new way – the more influential
you are, the bigger the discount.

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