Exploring group-buying platforms for restaurant revenue management

Capacity utilization is a major concern for restaurants as they seek to maximize revenues, because unoccupied restaurant tables, which essentially represent lost revenue, cannot be stored for use on other days. A new type of social commerce, namely group-buying platforms has achieved great success in attracting new consumers and increasing store traffic. This study attempts to discuss how restaurants can utilize group-buying platforms as a revenue management tool and to identify the key features of restaurant deals which can help generate sales and revenues on these platforms.