Wondered when that was going to happen. Don't get me wrong, I liked the concept but when you don't get repeat business because the structure is so bad it's just not a good sign.
At least they sold high...wait...
Groupon Is Laying Off 1,100, Shutters Operations in 7 Countries
71–80 of 256 posts
Re: Groupon Is Laying Off 1,100, Shutters Operations in 7 Countries
#72[deleted]
No need to out the guy's name -- you can make the same point without it, he's just doing his job
Re: Groupon Is Laying Off 1,100, Shutters Operations in 7 Countries
#73I'll be honest, I know Groupon and its ilk are terrible business, but as a user of the service I've had lots of fun exploring activities and restaurants that I literally would never have bothered with or known about. In the last few weeks I've taken a Scuba lesson, a Horse Riding lesson, an intro to art class, found a couple new amazing sandwich shops. I took an amazing trip to Ireland for something like 50% off the…
I stopped using groupon because of the near-universal resentment I felt from the employees of the stores selling the groupons. Clearly, these businesses weren't getting the value they thought they would get, but I wonder how much of that was the way they treated the new customers that the groupon generated.
I stopped using groupon when the hostess slipped us a different menu when she asked us if we had a groupon to use.
Re: Groupon Is Laying Off 1,100, Shutters Operations in 7 Countries
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
It always seemed strange to me that the coupons were essentially "get a $30 gift card for $15, to use whenever", when it seems like a lot of the deals could actually be good for both parties if structured more rigidly. For example, selling a $5 cinema pass for a specific day, time, and show. So they book the whole screening room, sell exactly as many passes as there are seats, pack the house, and hand you your popcor…
I think a lot of the hype and interest generated by Groupon is that they were very good deals for the consumers. If they were just regular coupons, consumers would simply dismiss it with a "meh" and forget about Groupon.
Well, and that's partly why my proposal minimizes the coupon-iness of what they sell, in favour of something that sounds more like an actual "group buy".
But of course with an eye toward long-term sustainability by making it a good deal for the businesses.
Re: Groupon Is Laying Off 1,100, Shutters Operations in 7 Countries
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
I stopped using groupon because of the near-universal resentment I felt from the employees of the stores selling the groupons. Clearly, these businesses weren't getting the value they thought they would get, but I wonder how much of that was the way they treated the new customers that the groupon generated.
My experiences with Groupon mirror your own. Whenever my friends and I would show up to a business with a Groupon, we would be treated with bad attitudes, worse service and just general reluctance when the exact opposite should have been true. I mean, that is the entire point of Groupon right? To promote a business -to spread the word on the street about how great your restaurant/bowling alley/pub is. Sadly, it has b…
I thought that before even trying Groupon. I can't imagine how coming in as a 2nd-class customer will improve my experience. Rather pay well, tip big and enjoy the best service they have to offer. Also, as an Engineer with a 1st-world salary, its socially responsible for me to spread it around.
Re: Groupon Is Laying Off 1,100, Shutters Operations in 7 Countries
#76Even if it was a good deal, who has room in their life for the 1046-th marketing gimmick? Please, interweb geniuses, think of something better.
Yeah, is there a medical condition called "Marginally Useful Apps Used as a Trojan Horse for Marketing Crap You Don't Need" Fatigue? Because I'm pretty sure I've got that.
Re: Groupon Is Laying Off 1,100, Shutters Operations in 7 Countries
#77I'll be honest, I know Groupon and its ilk are terrible business, but as a user of the service I've had lots of fun exploring activities and restaurants that I literally would never have bothered with or known about. In the last few weeks I've taken a Scuba lesson, a Horse Riding lesson, an intro to art class, found a couple new amazing sandwich shops. I took an amazing trip to Ireland for something like 50% off the…
I stopped using groupon because of the near-universal resentment I felt from the employees of the stores selling the groupons. Clearly, these businesses weren't getting the value they thought they would get, but I wonder how much of that was the way they treated the new customers that the groupon generated.
This was my experience too. We had a 7-course taster meal in a restaurant in Shoreditch and the waitress turned from delightful to rude in an instant after hearing the word "Groupon"...
Re: Groupon Is Laying Off 1,100, Shutters Operations in 7 Countries
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
My brother in law runs a restaurant back east, and he said that Groupon has been a great channel for driving business. Anecdata, I know. I think there's a business opportunity to help people running groupons capture the most value out of the leads (at the least, sign them up for an email newsletter).
I think it depends on the business. Someone up top mentioned it was a great way for them to try scuba, sky diving, etc. That's not the sort of thing you necessarily see a lot of repeat traffic for. Not sure.
Right. Seems like a restaurant (or hotel, nails place, anything that you could use more often, etc) is a better use case.
Re: Groupon Is Laying Off 1,100, Shutters Operations in 7 Countries
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not running on fumes. It would have been more accurate to say that it is growing more slowly (and as of the last few quarters, has seen its growth flat-line). 2012: $2.33b in sales 2013: $2.57b in sales 2014: $3.19b in sales Their biggest problem is the inability to achieve profitability on $3 billion in sales after so many years in business. They still have $1.1 billion in cash however, and have reduced their b…
> Their biggest problem is the inability to achieve profitability on $3 billion in sales after so many years in business. They still have $1.1 billion in cash however Doesn't this just mean the investors would be better off winding it down and investing the $1.1b in something that is profitable, or at the very least has a higher ceiling? It doesn't seem all that likely that the latest round of cutbacks is going to tu…
Sadly, a lot of tech companies would perform better if they threw their cash into index-driven mutual funds.
Re: Groupon Is Laying Off 1,100, Shutters Operations in 7 Countries
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
That was an amazingly effective scam, and nobody putting into those F and G rounds said boo. Just mind-blowing.
It's mind-blowing that anyone would subscribe to an F or G round in the first place. That they would do so despite the obvious scammy nature of the whole thing is probably criminal, at least if they were managing OPM.
There was a comment yesterday about how investors only operate by FOMO ("fear of missing out"). Once you convince one, many more will follow.
That's one reason this go-nowhere, do-nothing startup had so many investors: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/clinkle — it's all psychological games ungrounded in any sense of reality. Once you have one name brand investor on board, the other investors basically abdicate their entire decision making ability.
If you've ever been turned down by a16z, you can legitimately go around saying investors think less of you than they think of clinkle.