Is Groupon Doomed?

Crain's article on Groupon's perceived need to grow in order to survive:

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120714/ISSUE01/307149986/a...

I say it's not going to be around 2 years from now.

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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on August 14, 2012 at 5:21am

Maybe they can all go to work for Facebook?  -oh, never mind!

Permalink Reply by Leah Jone on August 14, 2012 at 5:51am

They had jobs, but they didn't all have the same employer. So a restaurant firing a few actors is different than Groupon firing ALL* the actors.

*some hyberbole

Serge Lubomudrov said:

What did they do before Groupon?

Leah Jone said:

What will happen to theater and comedy in Chicago when they all lose their jobs at Groupon?

Permalink Reply by Leah Jone on August 14, 2012 at 7:25am

They do a lot of the copy writing and online customer service. It was one of those things where a few people got in the door, referred a bunch of friends, now it seems like entire theater companies are employed by GroupOn.

Serge Lubomudrov said:

Don't want to belittle the problem of the artists (or anyone else) being unemployed, especially in times like these, but what Groupon hired them for in the first place? What Groupon needs ALL the artists of Chicago for?

I confess, I'm totally ignorant.

Leah Jone said:

They had jobs, but they didn't all have the same employer. So a restaurant firing a few actors is different than Groupon firing ALL* the actors.

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on August 14, 2012 at 7:34am

ACTING!  -um, i mean MARKETING!

Permalink Reply by Lee on August 14, 2012 at 7:49am

Thats hard to say.  It really depends on how many booking the salon has.  One of the reasons they may be using Groupon is to gain new clientele that were previously unaware of their establishment.

 

As to Groupon customers being nitpicky, is that Groupon customers or is that just some a-hole customers as a result of increased patronage?  I buy Groupons all the time (Groupon being my word for group-coupons - not necessarily always their brand), and have never expected anything special.  I do know that they have by far, the best customer service from the buyers end as far as my experience goes.  Don't like what you got?  Here's your money back.  Simple.  

 

The restaraunt ones are my favorite.  Why would I run out to a comparable sushi place for instance when I can go to another very close and receive $20 dollars free?  Apples to apples you'd be silly not to.  Its true that Groupon in the states is no longer the hotness that it used to be but they are innovative and as a previous poster suggested I believe they'll survive in one way or another.  For instance their daily deals sales were down in Europe this past quarter but Groupon Goods played a larger role in their bottom line.  Coinicidentally this wasn't good because Goods is less profitable, but I'm just using it as an example of their evolving brand/product.

 

Of course some Groupon-using business owners have been upset in the past.  Hardly any product comes without flaws and/or bad experiences.  It could be due to their own foolishness, a bad Groupon sales rep, or as suggested before, outright greediness.  I've heard from several people that work there that they are trying to improve that proprietor-Groupon relationship and educate the owner more on how the deal will actually work.  Its not really that hard when you run through some scenarios, especially given the data Groupon is accumulating through past deals that can help to serve as a gameplan.

 

There are a lot of smart people working for Groupon and I think that if things don't get too bad, eventually innovation while take over and they'll find a way to survive. 

 

Just my two cents, I'm fascinated by this rollercoaster...
 
S said:

I always kind of assume that if a small business offers a groupon that they're either desperate for immediate cash flow due to finance issues or will be running into cash flow problems down the road when people start using the groupons.  It might not be fair but if a service based business like a salon sells 500 groupons for haircuts that need to used over the next 6 months, I'm pretty sure that their regular customers are going to be squeezed out of their regular bookings.

Permalink Reply by Lee on August 14, 2012 at 7:51am

Advertising at a Ballpark. How dare they!
 
Paul Gnarlo said:

Down goes the GRPN!

Anyone else notice the shameless self promotion of their ticker symbol at Wrigley Field as well?

Permalink Reply by Duppie on August 14, 2012 at 8:41am

So that is who works at Groupon! Having been at Groupon offices a number of times recently (for unrelated business), I can say that these are some of most casual dressed workers I've ever seen. Flip flops, shorts and a t-shirt? No problem. It's like they are going to the beach. Whatever happened to dressing professionally for work?



Leah Jone said:

My biggest Groupon concern is that they seem to employ 50% or more of the cities actors and improvisers.

Permalink Reply by Leah Jone on August 14, 2012 at 8:51am

I'm clearly not making my point if you think I have a problem with actors having day jobs. Groupon has become known as a great employer for actors because of flexible schedules and good benefits (hooray).

I love that a lot of actors and improvisors have found steady day gigs that allow them to act. I think it's great for Chicago and the arts scene.

But I worry about an apocalyptic day when the actors and improvisors of Chicago are all suddenly unemployed and can't afford to stay in Chicago. It reminds of me of company towns and company stores, when the company goes away, so do the former employers.

This is all anecdotal and based on watching my theater friends all get gigs there and something I worry about occasionally, that's all.



Serge Lubomudrov said:

Hmm . . .

As someone who has a strange habit of eating every day, I can't accuse others of working to survive.

But what does it have to do with being artist and doing art? Like, you know, acting and stuff?

Frankly, I feel sorry for a troupe of dancers performing in a TV commercial.

Yes, yes, they have to eat, too.

And Bob Fosse is dead.

Permalink Reply by NYC (7.0 mi) on August 15, 2012 at 7:22am

Poopon....I mean Groupon ripping new lows today.

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on August 15, 2012 at 7:46am

Meh, it's holding pretty flat today -and trading volume is but a tiny fraction of what it was yesterday in the sell-off.  We'll see Friday what the end of the week brings.

But look at Facebook.  Holy crap is the volume on the tap been opened up.  Traders are waking up to the deluge that will come online next week when the first insider shares start getting dumped on the market.  Then every few weeks more employee shares will be dumped on the market until the end of he year when a whole shitton of shares get dumped.   Groupon is in for some hard times, but the folks who bought FB at the IPO should have just flushed their money down the toiled.  Some of it might have clogged the pipes and when they called the plumber to repair them he might have been able to recover some of it.  FB stock isn't going to be so lucky...

Permalink Reply by S on August 15, 2012 at 10:06am

The share price probably won't have direct effects on facebook but it would probably affect employees that were looking at the IPO as a big payout.  I think that there's already been high level people jumping ship and the facebook stock price tanking may accelerate this.  So secondary effects may cause issues if team leads and talented developers leave.



h' said:

How would tanking stock prices affect Facebook's overall viability?

(I don't really follow stocks much...)

James BlackHeron said:

Meh, it's holding pretty flat today -and trading volume is but a tiny fraction of what it was yesterday in the sell-off.  We'll see Friday what the end of the week brings.

But look at Facebook.  Holy crap is the volume on the tap been opened up.  Traders are waking up to the deluge that will come online next week when the first insider shares start getting dumped on the market.  Then every few weeks more employee shares will be dumped on the market until the end of he year when a whole shitton of shares get dumped.   Groupon is in for some hard times, but the folks who bought FB at the IPO should have just flushed their money down the toiled.  Some of it might have clogged the pipes and when they called the plumber to repair them he might have been able to recover some of it.  FB stock isn't going to be so lucky...

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on August 15, 2012 at 10:34am

Facebook as a social hangout is one thing.  But its ability to monetize the eyes on screens and give an investor a sizeable ROI to risk ratio makes it a very uncertain commodity in the long run. 

Lots of folks got sold a bill of goods.  Zuckie is going to laugh all the way to the bank, and also the Wall St. big-wigs who took off with all the loot that "vaporized" in the IPO's tits-up titanic dive.   The ones who really are going to get screwed beyond the folks who thought they could invest on the "ground" floor of the Hindenburg are the mid-level FB employees who got stuck holding a big shit-ton of worthless stock for their trouble. 

It's not like some of us weren't saying this all along but...

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