Old Business Finds Success With New Tool

Although , a 65-year-old Broadway mainstay, made its name making candy the old fashioned way, the small local business understands the importance of keeping up with the changing times.

The candy shop’s latest foray into the digital age is with the use of Groupon Scheduler, a new tool from Groupon that allows merchants to better track the booking of appointment-oriented deals.

“We have a very loyal customer base, which includes sometimes even four generations of customers,” said Brian Preston of the shop, which was opened in 1946 by Art Preston. “[But], we’ve wanted to bring in some new customers.”

To bring new faces to the shop, Preston’s placed a deal on Groupon—a web-based service providing daily deals in different cities—for a chocolate factory tour and tasting class. Normally $50 per person, the deal offered class for two for $40.

Although Preston’s has offered the class before, participants sometimes disregarded the details, overlooking the step of booking a class time, as classes only run on specific dates.

“Before this tool was available, it was very, very difficult,” said Preston. “Our retail staff was dealing all day with people—sometimes kind of irate—just expecting there would be this class going.”

With Groupon Scheduler, buyers click through a calendar of class times to reserve their slot, and a list of all the buyers is provided for Preston’s staff. Scheduler is one of an extensive array of Groupon tools aimed at making managing a business easier and more efficient through planning and tracking Groupon coupon use by customers.

“We’ve received great feedback,” said Nick Halliwell of Groupon. “[It] enables a lot of small business owners capabilities they may not have had.”

Businesses like Preston’s Candy and Ice Cream can manage bookings and staffing through the tool, as well as tailor the offer page to include important information about their business, such as hours and location.

Preston said Groupon’s tools are far ahead of those provided by other coupon deal services and that Scheduler has really addressed a need the company had.

For people interested in participating in a class, Preston said he’ll be running offers on extra slots in classes as they become available, and customers should keep an eye on the Preston's Facebook page.

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