A profile of Social Shopper

Social Shopper is a Vancouver-based group-buying startup. As you may have read, in previous months I have profiled a number of local, group-buying enterprises. I have been pretty picky in regards to who I profile, because I always want the focus to be on Vancouver companies, or Lower-Mainland businesses, or at least, BC-based, or Canadian-based. So, when Social Shopper approached me to see about a profile on their company, I agreed as they are Vancouver-based-and-staffed. Below is my email interview with Ehsan Baloochy, CEO and founder of Social Shopper.

1.- What makes Social Shopper different from other group purchasing agencies here in the Lower Mainland?

At SocialShopper.com we have a loyal customer base who are very engaged and come to us as a trusted source of daily deals and city guide. It is therefore, our responsibility to focus on featuring quality businesses, by having a screening process to ensure that we feature the best businesses in the city. We offer a wide variety of businesses so that our customers are excited to check us out every day! Since we’re locally based, we test out the products and services we feature, and also take a hands on approach with both our merchants and customers, so that we build long lasting relationships. SocialShopper is also socially conscious as we have used our “group buying” platform for various community and charity initiatives such as the daily deal: give $5 for $10 donation for Japan Earthquake relief, where within just a couple of days, we raised $20,000 by matching the $10,000 our customers so kindly donated.

2.- Why did you launch Social Shopper in Vancouver, when the market for group purchasing seems so competitive?

Actually, when I had the idea to launch SocialShopper in Vancouver there were no other similar group buying sites here. Being perfectionists, we went through a lot of heavy testing on design and functionality of the website prior to launching, as we wanted to ensure that the first impression for the user and their overall experience would be impressive and streamlined. Therefore, we decided to delay our launch which caused us to miss out on being the first to launch in Vancouver. However, I think the gamble was worth it because even though we launched after a few other deal sites, within only a matter of a few weeks, SocialShopper quickly became the third largest daily deal site in Vancouver, just after Groupon and LivingSocial – both of which are multi-billion dollar companies. We maintained that position for many months since launching, even with very stiff competition. We’re extremely proud that just in June of this year, SocialShopper jumped into 2nd place right after Groupon, beating LivingSocial’s revenues.

3.- What kind of deals would you like to advance with Social Shopper? (e.g. local companies, small companies, etc.)

During these challenging times consumers are looking for more value and SocialShopper wants to fulfill that need. Understanding the needs of the businesses we partner with is also very important to us and we pride ourselves on bringing them quality clientele that creates repeat business. We see a huge opportunity in merging deals, customer loyalty rewards, and mobile technology with the local commerce space in ways we haven’t quite seen done before. The possibilities are endless and SocialShopper has positioned itself to launch various products and services in the very near future.

4.- Do you collaborate with any other group purchasing agency? Is the landscape too competitive?

While the group buying space is very competitive, we have had open dialogue with competitors and given each other feedback. To be honest, many of the deal sites have seen our success and have wanted to merge, invest, or buy us out. We have been open to and entertained all proposals as long as they mesh well with our company vision and culture. We see the daily deal space evolving, and a lot of collaboration happening. I feel that ultimately this will benefit and become a win-win situation for merchants, customers and the communities we live in.

5.- What makes Social Shopper unique?

Focusing on quality over quantity from A – Z, being locally based and giving back to the community through charity partnerships has been SocialShopper’s vision from day one and we have executed on that. We feel what has, and will continue to set us apart is the various loyal relationships we are cultivating. SocialShopper is planting these seeds as we’re looking at the big picture and we have a lot of interesting ideas which we plan on rolling out very soon. Our unique “anti-corporate” company culture has also played a great role in allowing our staff to work in open minded environments and “think outside the box” by ensuring we make a positive impact, not just as a business, but as responsible citizens. A rule of thumb for us here at SocialShopper is that if something we do is not a win-win-win for all parties involved, we avoid moving forward with it and that has helped us tremendously in making the right decisions.

I asked Social Shopper if they would be interested in offering a $250 credit on Social Shopper for one of my readers, and they agreed.

So here is the fine print: The winner will receive winnings by emailing Social Shopper, they will verify their account and credit their SocialShopper account. I will draw a random winner on Monday September 5th, 2011 at 2pm.

There is a number of partnerships that local companies are doing with Social Shopper. A couple that I found very interesting and that my readers might find interesting too:

$29 for a 3-Hour Exclusive Connoisseur Wine Tasting with Hors D’oeuvres at BC Wine School (Value $60)[Social Shopper deal]

$10 for Admission for Two Adults & Two Children OR Three Adults at Maplewood Farm (Value up to $22)
[Social Shopper deal]

Social Shopper has a number of other deals that might be of interest. You can find them on Twitter and Facebook and on their site. And to enter my giveaway all you need to do is tell me what is your favorite item that you shop, on a comment on this site. You can earn an additional entry by posting the text below on Twitter. As for my favorite item: I’m an addict to stationery. There, I said it. *blush*

Told @hummingbird604 which item I love shopping for a chance to win $250 credit @SocialShopper1 http://is.gd/T788oP

As always, I’ll draw a winner randomly from all Twitter and comment-based entries. Good luck everyone!

Disclosure: This post has not been paid for, nor do I receive any other form of compensation. Social Shopper sponsors the $250 credit for the winner of my contest, but I don’t receive an equivalent credit nor compensation for hosting the giveaway. As always, I retain full editorial control on anything published on my site.

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