Member Article

Daily Deal industry gets Code of Conduct

The Global Daily Deal Association have delivered the industry’s first global Code of Conduct.

The voluntary Code of Conduct aims to standardise practices across the industry, and enhance accountability and sustainability.

It hopes to improve the reputation of the daily daily industry, which has been hit by controversy following the likes of Groupon being called into question.

The code addresses issues of privacy, misleading or deceptive conduct, complaints, refunds and credits; all issues that have shaped negative perceptions of the industry in the past.

Businesses who sign up to the Code of Conduct will be involved in its continued development and will work with the GDDA to shape practices and future of the industry.

Stavros Prodromou, CEO of the GDDA, said: “The GDDA has spent a great deal of time producing a Code of Conduct that is suitable and relevant to the industry.

“The sector has previously been affected by a lack of merchant and consumer confidence. The code is the first step toward improving the sector’s reputation.

“By signing up to the Code of Conduct, businesses are making a commitment to the future of this industry; the GDDA and Code of Conduct are crucial to the sustainability and credibility of the daily deal industry.”

The code aims to ensure consumers have access to detailed product and service information in order to make an informed decision; communication from providers to merchant and consumers is clear and accurate; appropriate policies and procedures are in place and clearly displayed on the website; and the provider has an effective procedure for handling complaints and an easy to understand refund policy.

DiscountVouchers.co.uk, Time Out Offers, MumsandMe and DealCollector, are already signed up, as are Dailydeal.de, Sweetdeal and Bownty across Europe.

Gerard Doyle, CEO of DiscountVouchers.co.uk, said: “At DiscountVouchers.co.uk we are committed to building honest relationships with our consumers and merchants.

“The Code of Conduct underlines our aim to always engage in responsible and fair communication with our consumers.

“We see GDDA membership as a way to show consumers our dependability as a daily deal provider and I’m looking forward to working with the GDDA to improve the industry’s reputation and sustainability.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .