Analyzing Top Performing Deals Categories: 1 of 7 in a series

A healthy deal mix is a key trait of any successful deal site particularly when you’re trying to reach a broad audience. Knowing the demographics and interests of your audience can help you optimize and focus your efforts, but it doesn’t end there. Within the main seven categories (restaurants, retail, travel, recreation, events, beauty and service), there are hidden opportunities you may not be thinking about and targeting.

We will be giving an in-depth look at each category: retail, travel, beauty, recreation, services and events. Everyone loves a good food deal, so let’s review the restaurant category!

Restaurant Category Mix

It shouldn’t be a surprise that dining deals account for the largest chunk of the deal mix pie. They make up 38% of the total revenue by category, but are all restaurant deals created equally? Not exactly. We broke down the restaurant group into 12 subcategories to find out what the top performers were and where you should be focusing your efforts.

Based on total revenue, American food clearly stands out with 43% of the revenue falling into that category. Italian is also noteworthy grabbing 16% of the total revenue, but when it comes to ethnic types of food such as Thai or Mediterranean they only represent a small fraction of the mix.

Restaurant Sub-Category Mix & Average Revenue Per Deal

Yet when we look at average revenue per deal performance, there’s an interesting shift in the rankings. Italian food holds its own and comes in second on both the performance and mix charts. Another datapoint we looked at was average number sold, and Italian leads the pack on that. So, you really can’t go wrong with a good Italian as its broad appeal makes it a winner, but Asian, Thai and Mediterranean are also standouts.

Seafood is the clear winner from a performance standpoint, and given that only 4% of the total restaurant revenue came from seafood, there’s plenty of opportunity. One key to this is the fact that seafood deals are generally priced higher, which is appropriate considering the average ticket at a sitdown seafood restaurant. The most common price point for a seafood deal is $20 for $40 – double that of the other subcategories within Restaurants.

When determining an appropriate price point for a deal, especially restaurant deals, the best place to start is by knowing what the average ticket or order is per customer. This data will help you ensure you’re pricing your deal appropriately for the business. Additionally, many restaurants have margin concerns with running deals, and one way to overcome that is by pricing a deal just under that average order. This encourages the consumer to spend above the voucher amount, which is more money for the merchant and puts your deals program in a good light.

Final Thoughts

So, when targeting your sales efforts around restaurants, don’t stop at American and Italian deals. There are plenty of other opportunities out there to get higher priced deals and to add some variety to your deal mix.

View the other category breakdowns: retail, travel, beauty, recreation, services and events.