Despite Groupon’s recent high-profile missteps, enthusiasm over the daily deal site’s anticipated initial public offering doesn’t seem to be dissipating. That’s unfortunate, at least in my opinion — and my thoughts have nothing to do with Groupon running what were widely perceived as culturally insensitive Super Bowl ads or the bad deal it offered on Valentine’s Day flowers. The bottom line is that Groupon, as a business, is a poor investment. The well-connected investors who are able to purchase the true initial shares will probably turn a nice profit, but the regular people who buy in later won’t be as lucky.
Groupon made a $6 billion mistake when they turned down Google's offer. (And Google would have made a $6 billion mistake had Groupon accepted.)
Groupon has a business model that can be, has, and will continue to be imitated. As the market saturates, Groupon's revenues will decrease drastically. What's fascinating is that a small, local imitator can effectively compete with Groupon (albeit at a lower margin, but then again, the small firm likely has lower overhead).
Anthony
http://e-marketingforsensiblefolk.blogspot.com/2010/11/blog-post_30.html
Groupon has lead the trend of internet social website. And groupon Clone is really hot now influenced by the success of Groupon. My friend recently built a Groupon clone website and has achieved a great success. He got the technique support from the company
Groupon is already old news. Another aspect of marketplace competition that was not mentioned in this article is that a number of daily newspapers -- including some with a national footprint --already offer "daily deals" to their subscribers. Newspapers are generally pretty lame at marketing and e-commerce but they, like other local media, do already have established customer bases of subscribers and advertisers. If they so chose, they would be in a better position than anyone else to leverage those databases and enhance the offers via personalization or even fulfillment.
Brilliant article, Mr. Hill Very intelligent and perceptive. Andrew Mason seems to be more like a Bernie Madoff than a Horatio Alger! Is he pulling a shell game or a ponzi scheme? Both?
Interesting................scandal ahead, maybe???
Groupon's math skills and financial claims are sorely lacking at best and are deceptive at worst
If Groupon has "saved" consumers 1 billion dollars as it claims, then Groupons share of 50 to 90 percent off of that would mean the company has received 100 million to 500 million profit at best in 2 years of operation before expenses. That's million, not billion. How can a company be worth billions if it's profit margin is so small, has almost nothing that is tangible, and has so much competition? Is that why Groupon received state aid from Illinois a short time ago? Did Groupon refuse Googles offer because it could not sell to them instead of did not want to sell to them? Maybe Groupon did not want it revealed how little they make and how few customers they really have??? Is Groupon deceiving the public, media, and it's investors hoping to cash in and run down the line??? A lot of hard questions need to be asked of Groupon concerning their business and financial practices. They will have a large number of legal problems in the future, I predict. Investors, beware!!! Consumers, too!
What is that sound that I hear.....? Oh, it must be Google and they are rolling on the floor laughing their ...... off! I mean seriously, how badly can one company screw up in a three month period of time?
Groupon - No, Google I don't want your $6 billion, we are better than that.
Google - OK, we will just do our own thing...Google Offers anyone?
Groupon - We are gonna run Super Bowl ads and generate some serious excitement and increase sales!
America - you offend us!
LivingSocial.com - Ha ha ha ha, idiots!
Google - dumba.... they should have taken the money
freefu.com - Ha ha ha.....
Groupon - Hey everyone, we have a great FTD flower offer (shhh, just don't tell anyone that they can go directly to FTD and get a better deal)!
Everyone - WTF, Groupon you suck!
Google - ha ha ha ha ha
freefu.com - idiots, ha ha ha
Livingsocial.com - who's running the show over there, ha ha ha
The rest of America - We will never use Groupon now.
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Investing in Groupon Would Be a Bum Deal
Posted by: Sidney Hill February 16, 2011 05:00 AMDespite Groupon’s recent high-profile missteps, enthusiasm over the daily deal site’s anticipated initial public offering doesn’t seem to be dissipating. That’s unfortunate, at least in my opinion — and my thoughts have nothing to do with Groupon running what were widely perceived as culturally insensitive Super Bowl ads or the bad deal it offered on Valentine’s Day flowers. The bottom line is that Groupon, as a business, is a poor investment. The well-connected investors who are able to purchase the true initial shares will probably turn a nice profit, but the regular people who buy in later won’t be as lucky.
Groupon has a business model that can be, has, and will continue to be imitated. As the market saturates, Groupon's revenues will decrease drastically. What's fascinating is that a small, local imitator can effectively compete with Groupon (albeit at a lower margin, but then again, the small firm likely has lower overhead).
Anthony
http://e-marketingforsensiblefolk.blogspot.com/2010/11/blog-post_30.html
Interesting................scandal ahead, maybe???
If Groupon has "saved" consumers 1 billion dollars as it claims, then Groupons share of 50 to 90 percent off of that would mean the company has received 100 million to 500 million profit at best in 2 years of operation before expenses. That's million, not billion. How can a company be worth billions if it's profit margin is so small, has almost nothing that is tangible, and has so much competition? Is that why Groupon received state aid from Illinois a short time ago? Did Groupon refuse Googles offer because it could not sell to them instead of did not want to sell to them? Maybe Groupon did not want it revealed how little they make and how few customers they really have??? Is Groupon deceiving the public, media, and it's investors hoping to cash in and run down the line??? A lot of hard questions need to be asked of Groupon concerning their business and financial practices. They will have a large number of legal problems in the future, I predict. Investors, beware!!! Consumers, too!
Groupon - No, Google I don't want your $6 billion, we are better than that.
Google - OK, we will just do our own thing...Google Offers anyone?
Groupon - We are gonna run Super Bowl ads and generate some serious excitement and increase sales!
America - you offend us!
LivingSocial.com - Ha ha ha ha, idiots!
Google - dumba.... they should have taken the money
freefu.com - Ha ha ha.....
Groupon - Hey everyone, we have a great FTD flower offer (shhh, just don't tell anyone that they can go directly to FTD and get a better deal)!
Everyone - WTF, Groupon you suck!
Google - ha ha ha ha ha
freefu.com - idiots, ha ha ha
Livingsocial.com - who's running the show over there, ha ha ha
The rest of America - We will never use Groupon now.
Ha ha ha.........
$6 billion? Really? And they said NO?
Idiots!