IAC’s Entertainment Book is beginning to make more use of online coupons and exploring better synergies with other IAC divisions.
Traditionally, The Book has relied solely on direct-to-consumer sales. Local books are typically sold for $24.95 to $45, and proceeds are split with nonprofit sales channels (i.e. The Boy Scouts).
Merchants, meanwhile, have basically gotten a free ride. In return for agreeing to honor 2-for-1 coupons and similar offers, they haven’t paid for inclusion. And their results have been strong. According to IAC’s marketing materials, 75 percent of Entertainment members have tried a restaurant as a result of being included in the network. Additionally, 82 percent of customers return to a venue that they were first introduced to by Entertainment.
The value proposition has attracted more than 67,000 merchants in 215,000 merchant locations, populating 159 local editions.
Up to now, that’s been sustainable. But going forward, IAC has been pushing The Entertainment Book to better leverage the Internet. Specifically, it hopes The Book builds more value by increasing online usage of offers, provide better marketing information to its merchants, and drive traffic to-and-from other IAC divisions. Merchants who participate in an online coupons program, for instance, are being provided with access to detailed reports that track their ROI, daily redemption numbers and customers’ purchasing habits.
Users, meanwhile, are being required to provide tracking info by activating discount cards. Users are then sent regular coupon emails.
In addition to relying on its own book buyers, IAC gets its IAC-member companies, as well as other marketing companies to provide their customers with online coupons as “thank you” presents. (For instance, I just received thank you access to a year’s worth of Entertainment Rewards from AT&T).
Focus on Driving More Usage
“We are focusing….on developing our online capability to drive more usage,” said VP of Business Development Peter DeMaris, in an email exchange. “Our goal is to increase the number of times a consumer uses our product – either by using the book or accessing our offers online.”
DeMaris went on to emphasize that “we are 100 percent focused on the consumer value proposition.” Front-of-the-book ads, for instance, are selected from merchants that provide the best value. “No one can ‘buy in’ to that space. It has to be great consumer value,” he said.
But DeMaris also sees more opportunity in kind-of-a-virtuous circle with other IAC properties, such as HSN, CornerStone Brands, ShoeBuy, CitySearch, SeviceMagic, eVite and others that can promote more book sales, and more online coupon usage. “IAC is increasingly growing the volume of traffic” and leads for book purchases. As time goes on, Ask will become an increasingly important part of this effort, he said.
I just got the 2007 version of the San Diego Entertainment Book (I always wait several months into the year to get 50% off). It is a real disappointment. Many favorite merchants and restaurants previously had coupons, but they seem to have dropped out.
The book itself is about half as fat (maybe by design?) But it is still populated with less relevant coupons, some from more than 20 miles away.
These days, Entertainment.com makes you do an online activation before you can use your coupons. This allows them to update their coupons throughout the year. That’s good. But the “fresh” ones were just schlocky. I can’t imagine signing in to see what other schlocky things they have for me — a 2 for 1 foster freeze? I bet I won’t buy the book again, even at 70 percent off (that’s next month!).