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Groupon IPO - Priced at $20 a share...going public today.

J

Josh

Lifer
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http://blog.agrawals.org/
The structure of the company’s business is that marketing expenses can be ramped up or down to achieve company objectives: if the company desires hypergrowth, it can achieve it by spending aggressively on marketing. If it desires to veer toward profitability, it can cut marketing expenses. It seems to have done exactly that. Groupon has done a great job of dressing up the pig for the State Fair. But it’s still a pig.
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Wait a second, you mean you can't build a long term successful company by offering coupons for spa treatments and massages?
 
the groupons around here are still okay - mostly restaurants, but i do see some 'colon cleanse' ones from time to time.


i read somewhere that the retailer doesn't get a very good deal out of this, sure they get a quick temporary boost but people don't come back. i figure all the local stores will try groupon once then bail for someone else.
 
I bought one Groupon over a year ago, haven't seen anything else worth buying since then.

Most everything for items around my area is for restaurants that are 20+ miles away, or for liposuction.
 
Short, its an unsustainable business model in the long run. Businesses arent getting what they expect or what teh groupon/livingsocial sales people say their business will gain.

Plus frankly lot of the deals are getting from bad to worse in our area.
 
Offering 75% off your services isn't going to work for most businesses. The type of customers you get are not the ones you want anyways. The Slickdeals crowd will just use it while they have the discounts and never come back.
 
airdata said:
Eh...

I did turn in a $20 voucher at whole foods this weekend that I paid $10 for.
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See if I could get offers like that I'd buy them. I got Groupon emails for about four months, and 95% of what I got was beauty stuff like spa treatments, laser hair removal, facial treatments or expensive entertainment like sky diving, and zip-line tours. When it was stuff that was useful to me, the deal was overpriced.
 
NY Times on the whole coupon site/craze:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/02/business/deal-sites-have-fading-allure-for-merchants.html?_r=1&scp=8&sq=groupon&st=cse

My favorite comment:
Even worse from the merchants’ point of view, the popularity of the coupon sites fed a relentless bargain-hunting mentality among customers that did not use them. “Every day, we get an e-mail or phone call saying, Can we match someone else’s price?” said Ms. Bengel of Wellpath. “We’re not Wal-Mart.”
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There is also something I call being a professional customer. It simply requires that you; 1) research your shit, 2) budget for your shit and 3) pay for your shit. Granted, there are business I detest because of shaddy business practices – but I really do HATE this "customer is always right" stupidity. If you don't like it, take your business elsewhere.

Getting all grimy and greedy on a .058% discount is just pathetic. Squeezing and pleading for $1 off makes me sick. Causing a scene, because you think you can get another scoop of ice cream for free, due to you being diagnosed with an infected clavichord when you 16 is down right disgusting.
 
Macamus Prime said:
I really do HATE this "customer is always right" stupidity. If you don't like it, take your business elsewhere.

Getting all grimy and greedy on a .058% discount is just pathetic. Squeezing and pleading for $1 off makes me sick. Causing a scene, because you think you can get another scoop of ice cream for free, due to you being diagnosed with an infected clavichord when you 16 is down right disgusting.
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I don't generally agree with you, but this is spot on. I hate that entitlement attitude. It's fucking pathetic.
 
Occasionally there are some awesome deals, like ebay, whole foods, perhaps movie tickets, but most of what I see locally is cr@p. I ranted about this trend-that-can-die in another thread recently.
 
Patranus said:
Ya. But you are forgetting that what costs $20 at Whole Foods cost $5 at Safeway.
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Meh, maybe walmart. 😉

The ebay ($7 for $15) was by far the best imo...50% off almost anything (except happy endings.) Was a great time to create LOTS of groupon accounts.
 
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