Member Article

Newquay Surfing School rides Groupon wave

Newquay Surfing School runs seven days a week during March-November and is based in Cornwall, England. Young entrepreneurs, Gareth Beckett (a former-chef) and Adam Griffiths (a professional surfer), set-up the school in 2008 to fulfil their passion for the sport. They started by running the business within a local hotel taking bookings from the guests, but in 2013 it re-located to an exclusive, beach-front location.

The school offers a wide range of classes, which cater for complete beginners right up to experienced surfers wishing to improve their technique. All its instructors are Surfing GB approved and fully qualified to ensure the experience is as safe and enjoyable as possible.

Like any business, there were a variety of challenges that needed to be overcome in order to achieve growth.

Business challenge

While Newquay is the ideal location for good surf, the business faced stiff competition from the numerous other surfing schools in the area. Its main challenges were being able to stand out amongst rivals and also make sure there was a steady flow of customers during the colder months. During September until November it was difficult to run full classes several times a day, as they would in the summer months.

Maximising marketing

In 2011 the business owners proactively started to look at ways to increase customer numbers and rise above the competition. As digitally-savvy entrepreneurs, they knew that e-commerce company Groupon was helping businesses do just this. It wasn’t long before they decided to call their local Groupon partner manager, Phil Rapson to discuss a partnership.

Adam Griffiths explained: “We arranged a meeting with Phil and quickly realised a partnership was definitely the way forward. He really took the time to understand our business and we worked together to determine the types of deals that would be most successful. He also advised us on capacity, so that we never sold more deals than we were able to cope with. We put a 500 cap on each deal, to ensure that everyone who redeemed the offers could fit into a lesson.”

The school runs three deals with Groupon per year in March, June and August, so that visitor numbers are consistent throughout the season.

Newquay Surfing School was one of the first in the area to offer 50% off lessons, and this price point proved an instant hit. Its first deal sold 150 places (for 300 people) and since then the school has run 8 deals, with 560 sold over all.

Adam continued: “Running the promotions has boosted our customer numbers by 50% and kept us busy during the quieter months, which was a key business objective for us. We have seen a wider variety of people attend the lessons, particularly from further afield – some have travelled from Bristol and other parts of the country to attend! What’s more, they’ve returned with the hunger to keep surfing.”

Boosting online presence

Due to Groupon’s extensive online customer base and strong web presence, the partnership has also increased traffic to the Newquay Surfing School website by 70%, while dramatically improving its SEO rankings on Google – something the owners wouldn’t have been able to allocate advertising budget to. This success has carried through to the realms of social media. Having set up a Facebook page in 2010, they now have over 600 fans many of which are Groupon customers.

Adam concluded: “It’s a tough industry to crack and we wouldn’t have managed to stay afloat without Groupon. The partnership has not only helped us generate local awareness but reach those much further afield. In doing so, this has boosted our online and digital presence – something which is very important for small businesses today.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Spenceley .

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