Linden Lab Now Offering Groupon-Style Offers for Virtual Goods (But They Need to Be More Grouponic!)

Linden Lab is now offering "Dash Deals" on SL Marketplace, the company's e-commerce site for virtual goods, which like Groupon, are limited time, deep discounts on selected items published on Linden's various social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, and weekly emails.) I'm guessing this is not a "me too" campaign inspired by IMVU's new Groupon-type offers for avatars, but just reflects the current Silicon Valley craze for anything which looks even remotely Grouponic. It's a good move to better monetize Second Life's ecommerce site as the company moves away from its unsustainable land revenue model, but I definitely think it could be improved: One big reason Groupon has done so well is it uses collective buying to leverage a social networking effect. When a Groupon deal is announced, people who want it contact their friends and acquaintances, to help reach the minimum number of buyers needed for the discount to kick in. A similar mechanic would be a great way of encouraging new SL signups. Still, a promising start.

Comments

[Ezra]

Seems more inspired by Amazon's Gold Box or woot.com than Groupon.

Groupon or Living Social, they encourage buying locally. You aren't shipped a dinner or shirt, you're buying a printable voucher to redeem locally.

For Linden Lab to emulate Groupon they'd need not only group buys, but the buys would have to be redeemable experiences or discounts in-world.