Reference no: EM132300153
All of us love a good deal. Groupon’s business model relies on this theory. Groupon is a popular “deal of the day” website offering discounted gift certificates or coupons that can be used at local or national companies. Each day, Groupon e-mails its subscribers discounted offers for goods and services that are targeted by location and personal preferences. Customers purchase Groupons through Groupon’s website or mobile apps and redeem them with that particular merchant. The discounts can be huge—usually 50 to 90 percent off.
Groupon makes money by keeping approximately half the money the customer pays for the coupon. The company has grown rapidly to become more of a marketplace and has expanded its offerings. Groupon Goods is an online deal-of-the-day department-style store; Groupon Live offers deals on live events; Groupon Reserve has premium deals from prestigious brands and companies.
Grouponworks.com now provides services that help small businesses, to include comprehensive online ad campaign management, advice, deals on business supplies, point-of-sale iPad apps to replace cash registers, payment processing systems, inventory management, as well as post-purchase analytics.
What features of contemporary e-commerce does Groupon use?
What value does this service provide subscribing merchants?
What value does it provide customers?
Visit Groupon’s website and enter your zip code. What kinds of deals are displayed? Would you use Groupon? Why or why not?
If you owned a small startup business, would you use Grouponworks.com? What two advantages and two disadvantages would you have if using Grouponworks.com?