Groupon Could Simply Implode

[Guest]

Groupon continues to cause quite a bit of controversy in the financial world, most recently with unusual ways of accounting that allegedly showed Groupon's balance sheet in a better, somewhat distorted light.

Groupon Could Simply Implode : Read more

 

[rohitbaran]

In the end, Groupon should have been sold to Google for $6 billion when the deal was on the table. From the opposite view, Google may have been saved from a very expensive venture.

Talk about lost opportunity!

 

[ProDigit10]

You don't actually think that people who need money would buy themselves a $100 printer and ink and paper, to go to these sites, just to print out coupons do you?
What's even more, the site is so disorganized, that it's hard to find what you're actually looking for!
I've spent 5 minutes on the site, and could not understand their website structure. That's the last time I visited the site.
It has too many flaws!

 

[Guest]

groupon..pwned

 

[chmilz1]

Every local merchant I know that tried a groupon (or competing service) promotion hated it and vows to never do it again. Completely kills their regular business. Their regular customers just stocked up on coupons to never pay full price again, and the got lambasted with one-time customers that overloaded their potential to deliver good service, destroying goodwill that money can't buy.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Hmmm....over 20,000 participating merchants and no net profit. Obviously there is something wrong with the business model. Selling out to Google for a $6 billion would have been one heck of a return on investment and a quick way out of an unprofitable situation.

 

[g-unit1111]

In the end, Groupon should have been sold to Google for $6 billion when the deal was on the table.

D'oh!!!!!

 

[monkeysweat]

i guess i better use my groupons before groupon expires - sorry if this double posts, but my first one didn't show up

 

[lathe26]

+1 on chmilz1's comment. Just last night I was talking to the guy running the bar/counter at a restaurant. They only got cheapo people who only got free food, never bought anything else, barely tipped if at all, and never returned.

 

[Guest]

Groupon was dead before it started. The only brilliance is how they got investors in the first place.

 

[megamanx00]

Ah well, hindsight

 

[WR2]

I always thought the whole 'pass along deals' by email / social network was a flimsy and capricious to drum up new business. Don't we already get too much junk?
There was always a lot more 'marketing' involved than actual savings IMO.

 

[memadmax]

I think the problem is the so called "deals" the place is offering.

It seems to be for the rich that really don't care what they spend money on, or useless deals to the average person.

Save $35 off a $135 shave and haircut? Come on! Get real!
Save $50 off a 4 hour, $135 sailing lesson? Better, but still, it's just a lesson, half of which you will spend on land learning the safety crap on a sailboat....

If groupon wants to make big bucks they need to appeal to the masses, the people that REALLY want to save money, not because they want to, but because they have to.

 

[CaedenV]

hrmmm, it would seem that they have a similar business model to WoW

 

[thrasher32]

Groupon sux. If they didn't, they wouldn't be in trouble now. I don't want discounts on overpriced stuff, I want discounts I can actually use.

 

[zubikov]

They tried to file IPO paperwork saying that their Profit was very close to their entire revenue, while it was bleeding red. Groupon used financial jargon that even a Lehman analyst covering Enron would shy away from. I bet the IPO will not go through because there's just too much fraud in the paperwork, to put it nicely. Also, if their IPO advisory firm has any integrity, they will advise them not to go public.

 

[Guest]

Google never had little if any intention of actually purchasing Groupon or if so, at the reported 5-6 billion Anyone seen anything from Google officially confirming this?

 

[m3kt3k]

If you are a merchant and look at how it all works AND still sign up your an idiot. Its a gift card service but the difference is that a merchant get the money for a giftcard and half the time never have to out on it. With Groupon as a merchant you only get 1/4 the normal price on your deal and only AFTER its redeemed.

 

[11796pcs]

Haha, I saw some adverrtisement on some site for Groupon, so I just signed my friend up for it not even knowing what it was and now he recieves about an e-mail every other day it seems. Let's just say he was a bit pissed. All in all Groupon is a bit of a joke.

 

[ProDigit10]

LOL! There are like 10 coupons for Miami, none of which I need anything of.
You think I'd visit a site that only has 10 coupons?