Donnahill's List: Jasmere

• Maryland-based Jasmere.com is a hybrid freebie engine, daily deals newsletter, and members-only discount website. With the aim of highlighting the "thousands of unique, interesting sites that have wonderful products but no way to get the word out," Jasmere works on a unique group buy model: the more people who buy the featured daily product, the lower the price becomes for all. Jasmere doesn't charge its customers until the sale closes, ensuring that all customers pay the same price and get the same discount. The Kugels personally try out each and every product they sell, from start-up designer jeans to fair-trade coffee. Focusing on quality of product instead of how big a discount they can barter, Jeremy and his wife look for "entrepreneurs, discoveries, and green products," small companies, start-ups, and inventors who have great ideas and just need a little marketing help.
• So how does a start-up private sale site that features start-up products find a way to be relevant in today's competitive internet market? It may not be as hard as we'd imagine: Kugel calls the internet "the great equalizer," as it is both the tool and the marketplace that has allowed Jasmere to rise quickly in popularity during its short time in existence, reaching out to buyers and sellers nationwide. Once upon a time, a small business would have to fight to get its name in the papers, but due to the "viral effect of social media," and the online communities of Facebook and Twitter users that Kugel and his team have built (Facebook fans of Jasmere can win free products every day!), Jasmere.com is able to attract as many as 3,000 new users to the site every day, proving that "if you have a good idea, it will spread fast."

• Recently, Jasmere featured The Friendship Stone, a small company that gives 10% of its proceeds to charity and creates beautiful jewelry and gifts from African tiger's eye. Over the last month, Jasmere offered reusable glass straws from Strawesome, luxurious skin and pet care (Natural bug spray? Sign us up!) from SunFeather, humorous and adorable baby gifts by Wry Baby, and healthy, customizable cereal from Me and Goji.

   

  What else do the Kugels have planned? The best way to get the scoop i

1 more annotation...

• Groupon is the most popular online couponing website that offers consumers "deal-of-the-day" discounted gift certificates to purchase specific products or services from local or national businesses. To use Groupon, anyone can sign up for free and be notified by email about local deals. In general, when you decide to purchase the deal and share it with others who would also be interested in purchasing the deal, people can save quite a bit of money.
• If you're interested in finding out about other local deals in your area, there are a few other sites that you can look at that use the same business model as Groupon.
• LivingSocial is Groupon’s biggest competitor, which offers you one deal a day via email for your local area. You can purchase their daily deal to receive a voucher the next day. If you decide to share the daily deal with the unique link you are provided with by LivingSocial, your deal becomes free of charge if other people buy the daily deal through your link. With LivingSocial daily deals, you can get up to 90% off of the best products and services in your city, purchase deals to give as gifts, and enjoy daily deals straight from your mobile device as well.
• With Saveology, you can sign up via email to get featured discounts, gift certificates and even gift cards mainly for companies in the cable business, satellite television, home security, Internet and telecommunications. You can generally find discounted offers ranging from 50% to 90% off products and services in the home comparison industry. The daily deals found on Saveology are currently limited to 28 major cities in the United States market.
• Plum District is a group buying site that focuses on offering discount deals to mothers and new parents rather than generic deals to the general public. Created by four mothers, Plum District lets mothers sign up to receive notifications for one new deal every day in their preferred local market. Deals are then mailed to local and national subscribers. From kids’ toys to high heel shoes to women’s eye glasses, Plum District is focused on delivering the best deals to busy mothers located in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle.
• Another competing deal-of-the-day website called Jasmere has their business model focused on offering discount deals to be used at some of the lesser-known speciality retailers in the U.S. Each product is tested out first by the Jasmere team to ensure the highest quality standards before low-priced, exclusive discounts are worked out and offered to the general public. Unlike some other group buying websites, Jasmere does not require that you sign up to be a member to be eligible for receiving deals. Although signing up via email to be notified of new deals is an option, you can also take advantage of their deals by liking their Facebook page or by simply visiting their site on a regular basis.
• Gilt Groupe is a group buying website that offers members-only shopping, which provides insider access to top designer labels with discounts up to 60 percent off their retail value. As a member, you’ll gain access to special deals on merchandise, apparel, food, home decor, travel and activities. For consumers who want to save on luxurious items, a Gilt Groupe membership could be a great asset. When you choose to purchase a luxury item with a discount from Gilt Groupe, all sales are made through Gilt Groupe.

5 more annotations...

• A unique site in this space launched late last year. Jasmere.com also leverages group buying, but at a national level, focusing on boutique dot-coms all over the country. Jasmere’s model reverses supply and demand, with dynamic pricing and a more-people-buy-the-lower-the-price-for-all angle. A recent deal started at 55% off but fell to 77% off as more people bought in. Since no one is charged until the sale ends, everyone pays the lowest price of the day. They are leveraging social media and customers’ own self-interests in a unique way. Plus the products are great. Check it out.

• lash sale sites, in which a limited number of items are sold at discounted prices for a limited time, usually feature unique products from designers or manufacturers.

   

  Jasmere.com, a flash sale website started in 2009, focuses instead on highlighting the items of individual retailers, adding another spin to the still-new sales model.
• Jeremy Kugel and his wife, Katrina, say their eco-friendly company, which has just four employees, actively seeks out lesser-known retailers and give these small businesses an opportunity to give their products, and their names, exposure.

• “We began Jasmere because we think these entrepreneurs shouldn't be limited by their minuscule marketing budget,” Jeremy Kugel said.  “If they have a great product and a story that deserves to be told, we want to be there to tell it.”

   

  The Kugels’ mission to help fellow entrepreneurs widen their consumer base started with a lot of research.
• “That's the big unknown on the Internet.  You can't pick up, feel or taste the product.  So how can you feel comfortable buying from a small online retailer that you've never heard of? By writing a genuine review based on firsthand knowledge, we give these lesser-known merchants more credibility and decrease the risk for our buyers,” Kugel said.

2 more annotations...

• Jasmere.com: Jasmere offers steep discounts on lesser-known specialty retailers ranging from denim companies to children’s toy manufacturers to artisan cereal makers. Sales are announced weekdays at 11 a.m. and last 24 hours.

    

  Sometimes the site offers vouchers, which allow shoppers to explore a merchant’s website and choose things that might not have been offered on the Jasmere website.

• Groupon.com: Though quantities might be limited, Groupon operates on a “the more, the merrier” principle. Users select a city and receive a new offer from a local business every day. The offers are usually in the form of gift certificates — $15 for a $30 gift certificate at a restaurant or $79 for a stay at a B&B. Each business dictates how many gift certificates must be sold before the offer becomes valid, ensuring the business a certain number of new customers. If enough people sign up for the deal, they are charged for the gift certificate and e-mailed a coupon. If not enough people sign up, the offer is void and nobody is out any money.
  

    

  Groupon doesn’t offer deals from Columbia businesses now, but both Kansas City and St. Louis are both represented, and someone planning a trip to another city might benefit from signing up for e-mails a few weeks before departing.

• asmere.com is a deal-of-the-day website ^[1][2] with a format similar to Groupon.com.^[3]

   

  Jasmere sells merchandise from upscale^[4] though lesser-known vendors.^[5] It offers discounts of 50-70% off the regular retail prices.^[6] E-mail alerts are sent daily stating that day's deal which lasts for 24 hours until the next deal starts.^[7]

   

  Jasmere was founded in 2009^[8] in Silver Spring, Maryland^[9] and has been featured in numerous local TV news segments.^{[10][11][12][13]}
• Jasmere has been noted for its “anti-auction” feature,^[14] by which the price reduces as more people purchase the item^[15][16][17] with all purchasers paying the final price.^[18][19]