The first trade association for the burgeoning daily deal industry has been launched in the UK, partly in an effort to counter “negative press”.
Daily deals association set up as Groupon slides
The first trade association for the burgeoning daily deal industry has been launched in the UK, partly in an effort to counter “negative press”.
The Global Daily Deal Association aims to provide one voice for the “disparate” daily deals industry, which includes companies such as Groupon, kgbdeals and Living Social.
It’s formation comes as shares in Groupon – once the fastest growing US cocporation in history – fell 17% after it was forced to reissue its latest quarterly results admitting it was further in the red than previously stated due to refunds to disgruntled customers.
The new daily deals trade body has been established to bring together the thousands of daily deal providers offering discounted goods and services to consumers worldwide.
It comes as UK consumers spent nearly £300 million on daily deal sites in the second half of 2011.
The GDDA’s first role will be to work with an industry in its infancy to establish and agree a code of conduct.
Director Stavros Prodromou said: “This industry is very young and has grown at a phenomenal rate, but a trade association is long overdue.
He added: “We know there are many issues facing the daily deal industry; there has been a lot of negative press and industry successes and failures have been widely publicised.
“Now, for the first time, we will be able to work together to find common solutions.”
The GDDA will bring together daily deal providers from across the world to collaborate on industry initiatives and standardise approaches to the new sales channel.
The organisation will also co-ordinate conferences and networking events for the industry to share best practice, building on the success of the recent first direct deals conference in Europe.
