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Groupon
Groupon logo
Type of businessPublic
Type of site
Electronic commerce
Traded asNasdaq: GRPN
Headquarters
Chicago, IL
OwnerThePoint, Inc.
Key peopleAndrew Mason, Eric Lefkofsky, Brad Keywell
RevenueUS $312.9 million[1]
Employees~10,000 (2012)[2]
URLgroupon.com (US)
groupon.ca (Canada)
groupon.co.uk (UK)
groupon.com.au (Australia)
groupon.com.my (Malaysia)
CommercialYes

Groupon (a portmanteau derived from "group coupon") is a deal-of-the-day website that features discounted gift certificates usable at local or national companies. Groupon was launched in November 2008, and the first market for Groupon was Chicago, followed soon thereafter by Boston, New York City, and Toronto. By October 2010 Groupon served more than 150 markets[clarification needed] in North America and 100 markets in Europe, Asia and South America and had 35 million registered users.[4][5][6][7]

The idea for Groupon was created by now-CEO and Pittsburgh native[8] Andrew Mason.[9] The idea subsequently gained the attention of his former employer, Eric Lefkofsky, who provided $1 million in "seed money" to develop the idea. In April 2010, the company was valued at $1.35 billion.[10] According to a December 2010 report conducted by Groupon's marketing association and reported in Forbes Magazine and the Wall Street Journal, Groupon was "projecting that the company is on pace to make $1 billion in sales faster than any other business, ever".[8] However, a report from Forrester Research in October 2011 suggested that the Groupon business model was a "disaster", and that the firm had become an example of "how fast an Internet darling can fall."[11]

In its first earnings release as a public company, Groupon reported a fourth-quarter 2011 loss of $9.8 million on an adjusted basis, disappointing investors.[12] Additional investor concern arose after the company restated 2011 revenues downward in March of 2012.[13]

History

Groupon grew out of the campaign website ThePoint.com in November 2008. Its name blends “group” and “coupon”. Groupon's first deal was a half-price offer for pizzas for the restaurant on the first floor of its building in Chicago.[8][14]

Groupon owns numerous international operations, all of which were originally deal-of-the-day services similar to it, but most of which were subsequently re-branded under the Groupon name after acquisition; these have included the European-based MyCityDeal (17 May 2010), the South American ClanDescuento (22 June 2010), the Japanese service Qpod.jp and Russian Darberry.ru (both on 17 August 2010)[15] and the Singaporean Beeconomic.com (30 November 2010), which is founded and led by Karl Chong[16].

Groupon bought the Indian deal-of-the-day website SoSasta.com in January 2011, and re-branded it as "Crazeal by Groupon Inc".[17], which is now led by Ankur Warikoo The Groupon acquisitions of uBuyiBuy launched services under the Groupon name in Hong Kong.[18] Groupon also acquired GroupsMore.com in Malaysia to expand its business there.[19]

Prior to these acquisitions, Groupon had bought out the mobile technology company Mob.ly. The Point, Inc., the predecessor to Groupon, bought the trademark[20] "GROUP-ONS" from its originator in February 2009 under terms which allows the originator and first registrant of the trademark to continue the use of this trademark.

In January 2012, the company acquired Mertado, a social shopping service based on the Facebook platform.

Business

Business model

The company offers one "Groupon" per day in each of the markets it serves. The Groupon works as an assurance contract using ThePoint's platform: if a certain number of people sign up for the offer, then the deal becomes available to all;[21] if the predetermined minimum is not met, no one gets the deal that day.[8] This reduces risk for retailers, who can treat the coupons as quantity discounts[8] as well as sales promotion tools. Groupon makes money by keeping approximately half the money the customer pays for the coupon.[8][22]

For example, an $80 massage could be purchased by the consumer for $40 through Groupon, and then Groupon and the retailer would split the $40. That is, the retailer gives a massage valued at $80 and gets approximately $20 from Groupon for it (under a 50%/50% split). The consumer gets the massage, in this example, from the retailer for which they have paid $40 to Groupon. There are certain businesses to which Groupon initially did not offer its services, including shooting ranges, abortion clinics and strip clubs,[23] however shooting ranges have been featured on Groupon. [24]

Unlike classified advertising, the merchant does not pay any upfront cost to participate:[8] Groupon collects personal information from willing consumers and then contacts only those consumers, primarily by daily email, who may possibly be interested in a particular product or service.[8]

Groupon employs a sizable number of copywriters[25] who draft descriptions for the deals featured by email and on the website. Groupon's promotional text for the 'deals' has been seen as a contributing factor to the popularity of the site, featuring a distinctive mix of thorough fact-checking and witty humor.[25]

Owing to Groupon's market being primarily composed of female customers,[26][27] the deals are often focused on the health, fitness and beauty markets.[28]

There are potential problems with the business model. For example, a successful deal could temporarily swamp a small business with too many customers, risking a possibility that customers will be unsatisfied, or that there won't be enough product to meet the demand.[8] Gap, a large clothing retailer, was able to handle 445,000 coupons in a national deal (although it experienced server problems at one point), but a smaller business could become suddenly flooded with customers.[8] One coffee shop in Portland, Oregon struggled with an increase in customers for three months, when it sold close to 1,000 Groupons on the one day it was offered, according to one report.[29] In response to similar problems, Groupon officials state that 'deal' subscriptions should be capped in advance to a reasonable number.[8]

Many merchants have believed that their Groupon deals would help them build a loyal customer base which shops directly with the merchant, without Groupon in the middle. However, in many cases a Groupon deal merely attracts one-time bargain hunters who do not return until they encounter another Groupon deal that suits them. This in turn has affected the loyalty of many Groupon merchants themselves. In a January 2012 survey of 400 merchants, more than half said they did not plan to run a daily deal in the ensuing six months.[30]

In 2010, it was reported that local merchants found it difficult to get Groupon interested in agreeing to a particular deal. According to the Wall Street Journal, seven of every eight possible deals suggested by merchants were dismissed by Groupon.[8]

The site has recently launched a mobile application available on Wap, Android, Blackberry, iPhone and Windows Phone 7. It allows users to buy deals on their phones and retrieve them using the screen as a coupon.

In February 2011, Groupon Russia announced it would join the Russian Company Mail.ru in order to start offering deals on its social network Odnoklassniki. This way, users would be able to buy and share deals from Groupon on their profiles.

Geographic markets

Groupon breaks into new markets by identifying successful local businesses, first by sending in an advance squadron of employees to research the local market; when it finds a business with outstanding reviews, salespeople approach it and explain the model, and use social marketing sites such as Facebook to further promote the idea.[8]

Groupon serves 500 markets and 44 countries, the many major geographic markets internationally include cites in the United States,[31] Canada, Taiwan, Brazil, Germany, Greece, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Puerto Rico, Japan, Turkey, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Colombia, South Korea, Sweden, Argentina, the United Arab Emirates, Norway, Romania, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Mainland China, Russia and South Africa.

In Australia, development of Groupon has been slow owing to legal disputes between Groupon and an Australian company, Scoopon. Groupon now operates in Australia as "Stardeals" while the legal problems are worked out.[32]

On February 19, 2011 The Wall Street Journal reported that Groupon was preparing to launch in China.[33][34]

Groupon is also expanding into the MENA region with its launch of Groupon UAE on June 16, 2011.[35]

Groupon New Zealand launched on 10 May 2011.

Competitors

Worldwide, there are over 500 sites similar to Groupon, including over 100 in US.[8][10] However, by December 2010, only one competitor, LivingSocial, had been described as a serious competitor; according to one estimate, it received an investment from Amazon of $175 million.[8] Other notable firms operating in the market include Plum district, Jasmere.com, and Saveology.[36] Gilt Groupe launched Gilt City, a Groupon competitor, in April 2010, and acquired Bergine and BuyWithMe.

In January 2011, reports surfaced that Google planned to launch a competing product, called Google Offers, following its failure to purchase Groupon for $6 billion.[37]

In April 2011, Facebook began testing a social-buying program.[38] This move was speculated to be a competitive threat to Groupon, but Facebook ended the project by August 2011.[39]

In October 2011, Adlibrium announced Adlibrium Dailies, the first free daily deal service for merchants which, according to estimates, reaches nearly 4 million consumers via email and mobile combined.[40]

Financials

New Enterprise Associates, Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell are investors in Groupon.[41] In April 2010, Groupon raised $135 million from Digital Sky Technologies, a Russian investment firm.[42] On December 29, 2010, Groupon's executive board approved a change to Groupon's certificate of incorporation that would permit the company to raise $950 million in venture capital funding, based on a valuation of $6.4 billion.[43] On June 2, 2011, Groupon filed to go public under the ticker symbol GRPN. The IPO was handled by Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group, and Credit Suisse Group.

From January 2010 through January 2011, Groupon’s U.S. monthly revenues grew from $11 million to $89 million. Total 2011 U.S. revenues were an estimated $460 million. Groupon’s 2011 estimated revenues are in the $3 billion to $4 billion range.[44]

In October 2010, Yahoo! was rumored to have offered over $3 billion to acquire Groupon.[45] On November 30, 2010, it was reported that Google offered $5.3 billion with a $700 million earnout to acquire Groupon and was rejected on December 3, 2010.[46] After the rejection of the Google/Groupon buy-out, Groupon proceeded with their own initial public offering.

Groupon’s gross billings in October 2011 increased 1.5% to $147 million from $144 million in September 2011, according to independent data provider Yipit.[47]

Groupon Now application

Groupon has developed an application aimed at smartphone and tablet users application consisting of the two buttons: "I'm Hungry" and "I'm Bored,” which locate the closest and best deals for food or entertainment, respectively, through tracking an individual via GPS.

Groupon VIP

On February 20th, 2012, Groupon announced a "VIP Membership" program, with a membership fee of $30 annually. [48] This program gives VIP members access to deals 12 hours earlier than non-members, as well as access to expired deals (in the "Deal Vault") and easy returns of deals (in exchange for "Groupon bucks").

Reception

Super Bowl commercial

Groupon aired a controversial Super Bowl XLV advertisement in which actor Timothy Hutton begins by making a plea for the people of Tibet before delivering the punch line: "But they still whip up an amazing fish curry."[49] Critics of the ad took to several social media outlets[50] to argue that Groupon was joking about the plight of Tibetans to sell their services. The following day, Groupon responded by defending their commercial and their philanthropic stance.[51][52]

The environmental organization Greenpeace praised Groupon's Super Bowl ads.[50][53] On February 10, 2011, Groupon's founder Andrew Mason apologized and pulled the ad.[54]

Violation of gift certificate expiration laws

In March 2011, Eli R. Johnson filed a lawsuit in federal court against Groupon, based on a claim that the company issues "gift certificates" that are not allowed under the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act. The act prohibits retailers from setting expiration dates less than 5 years after a card is purchased.[55]

Donald Trump

Responding to concerns about Donald Trump's possible run for the U.S. presidency, in April 2011 Groupon said "Enough consumers have contacted us to warrant ensuring that we don't place ads on the 'Apprentice' home page in the future." The company said the action was to distance itself from "political criticism", and that "it's avoiding intentionally upsetting a segment of our customers."[56]

Initial public offering filing

Some analysts claim that Groupon operates "like" a Ponzi scheme, according to interpretation of Initial public offering (IPO) documentation, because it has publicly disclosed that it is losing approximately US$100 million per quarter, has a net negative balance of $230 million, and is using later investors' money to pay off earlier investors.[57]

On August 10, 2011, Groupon updated its IPO filing, after facing scrutiny from regulators and analysts over its use of a non-standard accounting metric called Adjusted Consolidated Segment Operating Income. Critics argued that ACSOI was used by Groupon to present a misleading metric of profitability. Groupon's original IPO filing with ACSOI accounting showed a positive operating income of $60.6 million for 2010; after replacing the ACSOI metric with standard accounting metrics, Groupon's IPO filing reported an operating loss of $420 million for 2010.[58]

Analysts also criticized Groupon's decision to pay out over $940 million of the $1.12 billion in venture capital Groupon had raised before the IPO - over 84% of its venture capital raised - as cash payouts to its 3 founders and early backers, rather than into the money-losing company. Co-founder Eric Lefkofsky alone received over $300 million in early 2011, just weeks before the company filed its IPO paperwork.[59] The large cash payout also made Groupon technically insolvent when it filed for its IPO.[60]

On October 21, 2011, Groupon set terms for its IPO on NASDAQ, planning to offer 30 million shares at $16–18. The terms implied a dealsize of $510 million and a valuation of $11.2 billion. On November 4, Groupon raised $700 million, 30 percent more than it sought, valuing them at about $12.7 billion.

As of 4 November 2011 Groupon was valued at $13 billion and the float was at 35 million shares going at $20 each whereas they were last priced at between $16 and $18.[61] On their opening on Nasdaq, Groupon shares jumped more than 50 percent to a high of $29.52.[62] However, on November 22, 2011 the stock price fell below its IPO level.[63]

Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission

In March 2011, the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission notified Groupon that it was in violation of state law that prohibits discounting of alcoholic beverages. Groupon notified Massachusetts subscribers of a temporary suspension in the use of its discount vouchers for alcohol at participating restaurants.[64]

UK Office of Fair Trading investigation

During 2011 there were reported breaches of British advertising regulations to the Advertising Standards Authority.[65] In December 2011 the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) launched an investigation into Groupon after the firm broke regulations 48 times in 11 months.[66]

The OFT concluded in March 2012 that Groupon was in "widespread breaches" of UK consumer laws[67] and were ordered to "clean up their practices" within three months including ensuring its website was accurate, realistic, claims related to any beauty or health products offered were substantiated and that refund and cancellation policies were in accordance with current regulations.[68]

UK offers impact on small businesses

In November 2011 a local cupcake company Need a Cake was swamped by orders. The owner Mrs Brown normally makes 100 cupcakes a month, found herself having to bake 102,000 to cope with the deal.[69] In January 2012 a Brighton and Hove based company called Veg Box UK ran into difficulties following a Groupon discount deal, in which director Daniel Harris was quoted as saying ‘The knock on effect from the sheer demand actually had an impact on our reputation as a business’.[70]

See also

References

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