Groupon bought Savored in 2012 with big plans. Last week, Savored was disbanded and the popular service was partially integrated in to Groupon’s regular offerings. On the Savored website, they include directions to go to Groupon’s site for reservations. The offerings there are nothing like Savored however.
Closing down Savored will leave a hole in the upscale incentive based reservation market. Perhaps, OpenTable will jump in with a new product but regardless it was a clever idea, especially in the beginning.
Savored was one example where sitdown restaurant would provide steep discounts for business. Several of our clients used it successfully to drum up business. It had a lot of potential. Groupon just has never been able to tune into the restaurant industry.
With Groupon, Savored moved over to a slightly different business model, with set discounts. Before that, Savored charged customers $10 up front so that they would go in and receive approximately a 30% reduction. It encouraged larger bills and ensured customers would follow through on their reservations.
Savored was an exclusive club and only wanted restaurants with good ratings. It built a strong brand and a loyal following in major metro areas. Then Groupon bought it and it had a bit of an identity crisis that finally culminated with Groupon closing it down.
