Comments on: Groupon: Another Market Success

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 19:31:32 +0000

I had signed up for the Groupon app on my iphone, to see what it was. What it was was annoying as hell and designed mainly as a way to scam me out of my money for products that I may or may not end up using. It appears that I have to pay for a coupon, RIGHT NOW. Groupon’s site does a very poor job of explaining how Groupon work or what the point is. I disconnected after about two weeks, and won’t consider using it unless it is transparent in how it works. It may be brilliant marketing, but they haven’t convinced me that I should give them my money for anything.

By: Coup

Coup — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 22:29:14 +0000

“Groupon is yet another example of market success.”
I like the competition between retailers for business. I also like to see retailers make money.
How about using coupons? Using coupons and promo codes is an excellent way of saving money–that you can spend on something else you want! You make out, the store makes out, and the manufacturer does too.

By: ks

ks — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 07:32:49 +0000

This sounds Austrian or libertarian: Groupon's CEO said of his success in a Wall Street Journal interview -

Another was a broader lesson about the nature of do-gooder ventures. "One of the things I realized . . . is how few success stories there are in websites or products or businesses that exist primarily for an altruistic purpose. Most of the time, the things that really change the world exist for something fundamentally selfish and then the world-changing ends up being a side-effect of that. Whether its Facebook, Flickr, YouTube or Twitter, all those things have made the world better by the way that they allow people to share information. But that's not why they were created. It was so they could share pictures and videos of scantily clad women or kittens or whatever. And Groupon's the same way. And it caught me by surprise."

By: david

david — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 17:05:25 +0000

2011 is still recession in Europe

By: mlm home based business

mlm home based business — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 15:27:05 +0000

Great value post, especially with december 2010 still being a month of recession.

By: Kalim Kassam

Kalim Kassam — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 02:26:12 +0000

Groupon has not been in my city very long, and already has two competitors.

By: John Doe

John Doe — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 18:44:43 +0000

OK Martin,

Finally got around to it. Let’s see if it works.

Group is : New Rothbardian “State”

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 04:53:24 +0000

It’s amusing how your argumentation method is “hand-waving while ignoring the problems brought about by the coercive monopoly”

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 04:52:11 +0000

If “everyone” does not save, they are consuming without any additions to capital. They’re “eating their world”, like the stupid plot in Daybreakers

By: Robert

Robert — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 13:27:05 +0000

I’m wondering if this could really work at global level, of course except for the restaurant example that is limited to the local area? On the other hand, it is said that restrictions are made only by our own imagination, so maybe?

By: guard

guard — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 11:24:12 +0000

Yes, I like it. Put options on every meal at the restaurant for week, then stand outside the place selling meal coupons. Or give all the coupons to the Rabid Dogs motorcycle gang and then buy up even cheaper meal coupons after regular customers bail. Collateralized meal obligations – customers get one helping from each of several restaurants. All sorts of possibilities…

By: Martin OB

Martin OB — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 09:54:23 +0000

How about a Facebook group?

By: Martin OB

Martin OB — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 09:28:18 +0000

Brett, to simplify we can assume gold coins as money, and make the quantity of money constant. Then, clearly, you have no way to tell how much people save by looking at the gold; it’s always the same amount of gold, distributed in different bank accounts (never “floating in limbo”). The difference is in the purchasing power of each gold coin. When people save, money increases its value, in terms of everything else.

By: Brett in Manhattan

Brett in Manhattan — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 06:43:47 +0000

This is a bit off topic, but, one thing about saving versus spending that confuses me.

Say, everyone saves 10% of their income. Then, banks can lend these deposits to businesses which can increase production.

Conversely, if everyone saves nothing, where does the money end up? Is it in a state of perpetual limbo?

By: John Doe

John Doe — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 03:20:23 +0000

I thought one could join without making a commitment, but I notice now that no,

These guys need to get paypal. I am also concerned about handing out CC details. Country doesn’t matter though, I stuck in UK and it swallowed it happily.

By: Matthew Swaringen

Matthew Swaringen — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 02:08:46 +0000

I understand your argument, but it’s still nonsense. Even though I think 50% sounds like a huge cut as well I think the market can decide what it wants and that you might see competitors for this same business model.

My only worry would be that groupon initiates some kind of protectionist law suit to defend the model, which would be another demonstration of the failure of government intervention.

By: Martin OB

Martin OB — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 23:34:12 +0000

I’m a bit wary of giving my credit card number. Besides, my country is not available in the options :/

By: John Doe

John Doe — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 23:18:34 +0000

Martin,

Why don’t you join the campaign (no contribution required I think) and we continue the discussion there?

By: John Doe

John Doe — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 22:53:01 +0000

Well

Start with the “Social Contract” maybe

Establish a full democracy (with individual veto)?

By: Rick

Rick — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 22:52:26 +0000

Ponzi,

I’m sure Groupon also secured the domain registration of anything remotely similar to groupon.com to protect their domain name. If not, their mistake. And what names they couldn’t register, well, what are the odds a competitor like that would be effective anyway? How would people find the copycat site? Those copycat’s still have to be skilled marketers and SEO savvy. That said, when there are a million potential bases to cover it’s impossible to cover all of them.