Groupon

[CityFarmer]

Struggling Groupon ousts CEO Andrew Mason

NEW YORK — Struggling online deals pioneer Groupon has ousted its quirky founder and CEO Andrew Mason amid worries that people are tiring of the myriad of online restaurant, spa and Botox deals that Groupon built its business on.

Shares jumped following the announcement yesterday (this morning, Singapore time), which had been anticipated for months. Executive Chairman Eric Lefkofsky and Vice Chairman Ted Leonsis were appointed to the Office of the Chief Executive while a replacement is found.

http://www.todayonline.com/tech/struggli...drew-mason

[sgd]

It's really a good concept but like bubble tea low barrier of entry eventually too many copycats try to grab the action.

Look at singapore's own version of online shopping http://www.qoo10.sg

The best way to make money is to sell and cash out business when is still crazy.

[dzwm87]

Besides the easy barrier to entry, it seem they are really forgoing long term benefits in return for short term gains.

Have heard from many of my friends that they squeeze dry their clients (those selling the discount coupons). So much so that most of the smaller businesses ended up making losses just to meet the discount target.

And let's not talk of their accounting treatment - another problematic issue.

[freedom]

The business model itself is okay. the small businesses has their own faults. If they can't afford, why would they put up the coupons with Groupon? Then they blamed Groupon attracting too many customers with coupons. the low barrier to entry can be solved over time by a lot of unprofitable copycats gone.

[dzwm87]

From my (or my friend's) understanding, the smaller businesses were "forced" to issue out numbers of coupons which were too large for them to handle.

The business model is okay though not superb - they won't attract really good selling products. If a product sells so well, why would they need to go through Groupon? So, either Groupon become the filter for crappy products or they can help provide a stepping stone for small businesses to gain publicity. The latter obviously is not what they are working very well on. The former is likely true - I had a friend who bought a Groupon deal to a restaurant which had clsoed down weeks before the deal expired!

After a while, you realised it's the same few products being issued over Groupon - at least for the Singapore outlet.

[sgd]

the groupon cupcake story on steroids explains it all, hilarious and yet scary.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsb...maker.html

[freedom]

From my (or my friend's) understanding, the smaller businesses were "forced" to issue out numbers of coupons which were too large for them to handle.

The business model is okay though not superb - they won't attract really good selling products. If a product sells so well, why would they need to go through Groupon? So, either Groupon become the filter for crappy products or they can help provide a stepping stone for small businesses to gain publicity. The latter obviously is not what they are working very well on. The former is likely true - I had a friend who bought a Groupon deal to a restaurant which had clsoed down weeks before the deal expired!

After a while, you realised it's the same few products being issued over Groupon - at least for the Singapore outlet.

there is no way for Groupon to force business to issue coupons. The business can always walk away. Their not walking away already says that they need Groupon at least.

In the beginning, there will be mix of good honest business and dishonest business. over time, the bad business will be weeded out.

It takes time for the business model to prosper. But certainly some company in the business will stay and thrive. Groupon well, could be one of them.

[CityFarmer]

the groupon cupcake story on steroids explains it all, hilarious and yet scary.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsb...maker.html

Groupon is a promotion service provider. The story shows the effectiveness of Groupon service.

We definitely will not blame the service if the fault is on shop owner's mistake in planning.

[sgd]

Groupon is a promotion service provider. The story shows the effectiveness of Groupon service.

We definitely will not blame the service if the fault is on shop owner's mistake in planning.

maybe it is but today there are more than 500 similar sites so what is still so unique about groupon that make you want to invest? go see how many china sites there are, it's became a highly competitive industry.

They should have sell out the business when the hype was still magical like what hotmail.com did when it was magical and sold everything to microsoft for $400 mil. I remember hotmail only gave limited storage space to people who used their email for free go see how many free email sites today that are giving free unlimited storage space.

[dzwm87]

No doubt it was party the shop owner's fault. But they are clients of Groupon and it remains in Groupon's interest to serve what's best to their client's interest. They can't say they are portraying their effectiveness of their Groupon service because they are losing one potential recurring customer by doing so.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/joanlappin/2...-a-put-on/

The article says it best - "There seem to be uneding variations on the theme of why Groupons don’t work for many merchants and why the repeat factor is amazingly low. The net result is that for those offering Groupons: “Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice shame on me.”"

In fact, I agree with sgd - the barrier to entry is so low that there is no competitive edge and it is already a sufficient reason to avoid the company (as an investment opportunity). Customer service will be one way to build on its brand but we aren't seeing any effort to do so.

Well, we can go on all day with this but the stock is trading at around US$4.53 and almost 77% down YTD - it will be a "great" opportunity for those who thinks it is a great business.

(Not vested)