Many of you have heard of Groupon (if not, click here for some info to put you up to date with the rest of the world ;). In fact, a few of just might even have bought a deal from this creative company. This past November Groupon turned down a $6 billion offer from Google, which got the attention of many individuals about the intentions of the management of this company. Nowadays, it looks like the company made the correct decision turning down that proposal because the company is planning on going public, and read this well, the IPO is estimated to be $25 billion.
The current concern of investors is if Groupon's price really reflects the ability of the company to generate profits. Current CEO Andrew Mason stated that they "have been talking to bankers about this IPO but nothing have been decided. One important aspect to emphasize is that in this past year Groupon has grown from 3 million users to over 500 million users in 40 countries. This represents an amazing reach and the company's ability to really tap into some serious money. On the other hand, the critics comment that Groupon will face hard competition and their competitive advantage would have to come from effective segmentation (As effective marketers that we are, we know that this is key to any business). There are surely a lot of doubts regarding this topic to be resolved in the following months. Until then, just stay around for more information about this event.
Marketing is the key to success!
Ricardo Chuecos
I really enjoyed your blog. I totally agree with you, Groupon keeps growing and growing, we'll just have to see how far it can go. It is really a brilliant idea and the key int hat is that they new how to grab people's attention. Consumer love an opportunity to get the best out of a deal, and if you put a limit on the time they can obtain it even better. If they get to give some shares to the public, I for one will be interested in invest on this particular company; I believe it has a lot of potential and as you say we'll just has to stick around to for more information.
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I think the critics are right about Groupon facing hard competition. right now they are on top but whose to say what could happen in future. One of these little copycat companies could gain significant steam and take Groupon out. It will definitely be interesting to see what happens.
ReplyDeleteMy prediction is that eventually there will be competitors to Groupon, but with the breakneck pace they're growing, they will buy those companies out.
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