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Groupon Executive Summary

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Groupon Review
Groupon has been called the fastest growing company in history. The idea of offering real discounts to people in local markets, providing signature daily deals and exposing people to new products and services at deeply discounted rates has attracted a groundswell of consumer support and influenced other companies to start similar businesses.

The company attracts a well-educated, affluent crowd that responds enthusiastically to local restaurant deals. Restaurants can reach a targeted crowd without investing any money in advance and use their inventory and services to pay for their marketing while hopefully upselling customers and landing long-term regular customers.

Background
Andrew Mason founded a website in 2007 that was …show more content…

Mason's company changed its focus from doing good to doing business, and the result was one of the fastest trajectories in business history. Within a few months, the startup company that was facing bankruptcy grew to a value between $6.4 billion to $7.8 billion and refused a buyout offer from Google of $6 billion.

How It Works
The premise is simple -- companies get free coupon advertising without paying any upfront costs. Merchants sign up and agree to certain promotional limits, and Groupon does the rest.

Groupon writes the advertising copy and publicizes the offers to its substantial client base.
Merchants offer significant discounts of 50 percent or more on meals, products or …show more content…

Local campaigns reach the people that restaurants most want to attract.

Although aimed at attracting new customers, existing customers often flock to the website to buy coupons, which is a big problem for restaurants. Another concern is that merchants are essentially selling food at about 23 percent of regular prices.

Effectiveness
Groupon achieves spectacular results in selling coupons, but those deals often go to people who are just trying food that they couldn't or wouldn't normally eat. Regular customers also buy coupons to save money. Restaurants must always be careful not to devalue their restaurants and menu prices by offering too many discounts. Customers might get used to paying the discounted prices and refuse to pay full price when discounts aren't available.

Targeting the Right Customers
Upscale, fast casual and full service restaurants can find a ready audience at Groupon. Even fast food companies occasionally advertise specials, but the nature of daily deals lends itself more to higher priced meals where customers can save about 50

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