Hungry for deals that cost just $1

Spungry, a homegrown F&B deal-shopping concept offers consumers and merchants risk-free deals, reports JASLENE PANGJOE Augustin, who is more well-known as a radio deejay, has become the "chef" - meaning "chief" in French - at Spungry, a homegrown F&B deal-shopping concept which sets out to give its customers super savings through group buying, and the merchants, better business.新蒲崗迷你倉He explains his month-old venture: "Consumers who like a deal can book it for just $1, then pay the full amount to the merchant when they purchase the food later."This means consumers and merchants can participate in the deals market at no risk. If the meal doesn't shape up to expectations, Spungry has a simple refund policy."For the consumer, there is hardly any risk involved at all. For merchants who work with us, unlike most of the other deal sites, they will never need to wait for their money."Deal sites such as Groupon, an American company, traditionally collect payment for the purchase from the consumers, and then pay a ratio of that to the merchants later, depending on the contract which they signed with the merchants, Mr Augustin says. This arrangement favours the deal sites first, followed by the consumer, and then finally, the merchants, he adds. Spungry's "win-win-win" situation for all three parties is an attempt to balance things out and help the merchants, "so we decided to do it our way and make a little money from the site as well". Spungry now has about 800 participating F&B merchants on its database.Hiroyuki Kiga, another of Spungry's founders and its vice-president in charge of the company's strategy, fully expects Spungry to go places: "We believe Spungry can be the next Internet giant in just a few years, with tremendous revenue returns . . . And it's made in Singapore!"The business now operates out of Singapore and Japan, but, as Mr Augustin says, it is "just waiting to come alive" in other countries. He says: "If today, Spungry detects that we have 60 deals in Los Angeles, Spungry becomes alive. It is the same everywhere else."The founders trawl Spungry's Facebook page for hints on how people are reacting to the posts or advertisements there. Mr Augustin says: "We look at the number of 'Likes' for each post or advertisement and ask ourselves: 'Does this advertisement really communicate? Why doesn't something catch on as quickly as we thought it would?' From there, we learn and don't repeat our mistakes."The feedback from consumers has been very encouraging because consumers understand our concept just from the limited amount of stuff we put up. This means this is a 'gettable' concept, and if people understand it, they can share it with their friends."Merchants have also contacted me. This shows that the market gets that it is different and is interested in our concept."Mr Augustin has parlayed his celebrity status as a popular deejay to make a personal connection with those who drop in on Spungry's Facebook page. He says: "People who don't make the connection see Spungry as an anonymous new entity trying to introduce itself. But I've learnt that a more personal approach works better: I am getting more responses on my personal Facebook page about Spungry."He believes in the power of word of mouth in shaping how successful a business is going to be. "Facebook, Twitter - they are just tools that people use to spread news. The question is, how do we empower merchants and consumers to spread the wordmini storage We have spent lots of time and money to do research to see if the business is viable and sustainable, but all that pales in comparison to the task at hand right now - which is getting the market to understand what is going on."But, as much as Spungry's founders want to get the word out, they are taking it slow and steady. They don't believe in spamming potential customers and badgering them to book the offered deals from its stable of merchants for all of $1."We would like to have a relationship that starts off with people saying: 'I want this'. We are going to be socially driven. It's deciding to do it right by the audience, so that they don't resent or hate you."Ours is a business designed to go international and we want to keep our reputation in all countries. Some people have the experience of receiving random e-mail and trying out the deals, only to have a bad experience."We choose to completely rework the idea and ask ourselves how we can take the pain from merchants and consumers away, and maybe make some money and make a difference?" But nobody said it was going to be easy having a social conscience."Our decision means that it is going to be tough for us, because the market that we are going into is already so developed. But, you know what, we want to take that on. We are here to change it all and it's going to be a hard fight, but let's do it."News reports have put the number of notable group-buying businesses in Singapore at about a dozen now.Mr Augustin discloses that there are already three generations of Spungry in the pipeline. "We'll give you a hint about our secret ingredient: imagine scrolling through the profiles of other diners and spotting a familiar face. You can buy her a deal and include a short message. If she accepts, it's a great way to reconnect in real life. If she doesn't, it's just $1 spent."The crystal ball for the world of social media can be pretty murky though. The Spungry crew doesn't know what the trend will be in three to five years. It is just that, for now, they don't want to pass up the chance to "ride the wave of opportunity".The key to the future is to continuously obtain feedback from the market and focus on being relevant, says Mr Augustin. "What's important is to be different, but to stay relevant. Difference sets us apart, but without relevance, we're merely rebels without a cause."Explaining how Spungry can give a leg up to smaller merchants, he says that such small-time businesses drive the economy, but "sometimes find themselves in a situation which doesn't really work for them".Spungry connects them to potential customers attracted by the e-coupons on offer. Smaller merchants thus get a chance to develop their business, regardless of their size.Of Spungry's social mission, he says: "Every now and then, you think about something that would really make a big difference. This could really make that big difference, because what we are doing is that we are returning power to a group of people who need a lot of help."When I think about it, it is quite mind-boggling. That's how we want to make a big change."HAVE an interesting story on an SME to share? Drop us a note on why you think the company should be featured in our weekly SME Inc pages, with details such as how the company has grown and its expansion plans. Send your e-mail to Felda Chay at feldac@sph.com.sg with the subject head: "Feature this SME"; and you might read about the company in BT.self storage