Online Service Gives Break to Shoppers, Exposure for Firms

Jeff Edelstein has been operating his emergency preparedness supply business for more than two decades but is always open to new ways to reach customers. That is what led him to Big City Deals, a website offering a discount certificate for a featured retailer, professional service provider or other type of business. The certificates give a financial break to a shopper and the business in return gets a customer that might not have come through their door. The week of Jan. 18, Edelstein’s SOS Products was the featured national deal. Visitors to the site could purchase a $10 certificate that gets them $25 worth of emergency supplies. While Edelstein may not make much back, he is thinking in the long term. “They will find out about us and make a purchase and come back again and again,” Edelstein said. Big City, based in Burbank, was founded by a trio of business partners, each of who brings a different skill. General Manager Jeff Ballenberg oversees the technology side of the business; Steve Ballenberg deals with the merchants and customer support; and Michael Silber handles the marketing and how best to use their spokesman, a host of a popular game show involving spinning a wheel to fill in the letters. Yes, Big City Deals has none other than Pat Sajak as its pitchman, a result of a friendship between him and Silber. “He was intrigued,” Silber said of when he showed Sajak the site. “He not only saw the value, he liked how the model helped local businesses.” Big City went active in Southern California and San Francisco in late 2009. The partners have their eyes on expanding to other cities as the new year progresses. One national deal is given to a business each week. To get merchants involved, the Big City sales team pitches the site as an opportunity for a small business with a limit budget and limited web presence to acquire new customers for absolutely nothing. The business gets listed at no cost and a revenue sharing agreement generates revenue no matter how many certificates are sold, Silber said. For the consumer, the certificates offer a discount in a time when cost cutting has become the norm in most households. The Big City method is easy to understand and a purchase can be made with just the click of a mouse. Email blasts alert shoppers of when new deals have been posted at the site. Also, the company insists that the merchants involved place few restrictions on their discounts, such as limited hours or only redeemable on certain days. Edelstein is on his second go around with Big City, having been a featured merchant shortly after the site went active. He had wanted the Van Nuys-based supplies business to be the Los Angeles area featured business but was convinced to do a national deal as emergency preparedness became a hot topic following the devastating earthquake in Haiti. The week the SOS certificate was available was when Southern California got pounded by heavy rains that threatened to cause mud slides in certain areas. “We are getting a lot more interest in (the emergency supplies),” Edelstein said. Daily emails from Big City make it easy for Edelstein to track the number of sales of the discount certificate.