Şehir Fırsatı (Groupon Türkiye)
Groupon's Turkish brand, a daily deals site selling vouchers for restaurants, spas and events
- Founded
- 2010
- Closed
- 2015
- Lifespan
- 5 years
- Country
- Turkey
- Sector
- E-commerce
- Investors
- CityDeal, Groupon
- At its peak
- 100,000 members a month after launch (Webrazzi, 2010); 663,000 unique visitors a month (Webrazzi, 2012)
- Cause of closure
- Business model failed
We wrote the full story: Why Did Şehir Fırsatı Shut Down? →
What did it do?
Şehir Fırsatı (sehirfirsati.com) went live in April 2010 as the Turkish operation of CityDeal, the Berlin-based group-buying company. Every day it sold discount vouchers for services such as restaurants, spas and events. A month later Groupon bought CityDeal and the site became Groupon's brand in Turkey.
Why did it shut down?
According to Webrazzi, the Turkish tech news site, the Turkish office failed to meet financial expectations, and in its final period sales fell by as much as 60 per cent. To cut costs the company switched from a field sales team that visited venues to telephone sales, but this did not stop the losses. The group-buying market had also been shrinking since 2011; according to a 2012 Webrazzi analysis, the sector's total user numbers fell from 3.4 million to 2.3 million in a year. While local rival Grupanya survived, Groupon chose to exit a market where it saw no profitability.
The story
On the night of 23 April 2010, sehirfirsati.com went live with a 1 TL cinema ticket promotion. The site was the Turkish arm of CityDeal, the Berlin-based company founded by the Samwer brothers that ran group buying in 14 European countries. Emre Ekmekçi was appointed general manager; the company started out with 16 people in six cities. The model was simple: every day it sold discount vouchers for services such as restaurants, spas and events.
Growth was fast. According to Webrazzi, the Turkish tech news site, the site reached 100,000 members in a month, and CityDeal invested EUR 2.5 million in Turkey. In May 2010 Groupon bought CityDeal, and overnight Şehir Fırsatı became the Turkish brand of the world's largest group-buying company. Rivals such as Grupanya, Grubal and ekoloni were already in the market; Grupfoni and Yakala.co soon followed.
The bright start did not last long. According to a May 2012 Webrazzi analysis, the sector's total user numbers fell from 3.4 million to 2.3 million in a year; Şehir Fırsatı's monthly visitors also dropped from 813,000 to 663,000. As Webrazzi later pointed out, profitability and customer retention were problems the sector had never solved from the start.
In August 2015 Webrazzi reported that the Turkish office had failed to meet financial expectations and that sales had fallen by as much as 60 per cent. Groupon had replaced its field sales team with a telephone sales team to cut costs, but the losses did not stop. On 24 August 2015, users visiting the site were greeted with a message announcing that Groupon had ended its operations in Turkey. Customers were given until 30 September for refunds and other transactions.
The most striking comment on the closure came from the rival camp. Cem Sertoğlu, one of Grupanya's investors, wrote that the Grupanya team had overtaken its number one rival with far fewer resources. Şehir Fırsatı's five-year story remains an example of how global capital cannot solve local market dynamics on its own.
Lessons for founders
- Global brand power is no substitute for a sales team that builds relationships with businesses in the local market.
- In a voucher model without customer loyalty, growth remains dependent on constant marketing spend.
- Weakening your sales channel to cut costs can accelerate falling revenue even further.
Sources
- Groupon announces its withdrawal from Turkey (Webrazzi, 2015-08-24)
- Groupon is pulling out of Turkey [Rumour] (Webrazzi, 2015-08-19)
- Groupon has withdrawn from the Turkish market (Marketing Türkiye, 2015-08-25)
- Groupon has pulled out of Turkey (Sabah, 2015-08-25)
- CityDeal Enters the Turkish Market: SehirFirsati.com (Webrazzi, 2010-04-23)
- Groupon Buys CityDeal: Groupon Becomes SehirFirsati.com in Turkey (Webrazzi, 2010-05-16)
- How far has the group-buying market moved in a year? [Analysis] (Webrazzi, 2012-05-31)
- Turkish e-commerce sites that closed before Markafoni (Habertürk, 2017-06-02)
This section is compiled from public sources (Wikidata, news archives and company announcements). Figures are given as they appear in those sources; unknown fields are left blank. If you spot a mistake in an entry, you can send us a correction.
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