Groupon, Inc. (“Groupon”) is a company that specializes in local commerce. It has relationships with companies on a global scale and alerts consumers on the hottest deals with respect to shopping for various products, travel destinations, and popular spots, goods and services that a city has to offer. The stock ticker for the company on the NASDAQ exchange is “GRPN.” The company is listed under the sector ‘Technology’ and industry ‘Internet Information Providers.’ It started off as ‘ThePoint.com, Inc.’ but in October 2008 it changed its name to ‘Groupon, Inc.” Groupon was founded in 2008 by the now ousted CEO Andrew Mason. The current CEO is Eric Lefkofsky who initially invested $1,000,000 toward the development of the company. The Chief …show more content…
Groupon redefines how small businesses operate when it comes to attracting and selling to consumers. It helps businesses operate and grow more effectively. Groupon knows it has a social responsibility with respect to the society it operates in. It tries to help small businesses grow which in turn boosts the economy. Additionally, given the state of the economy, it helps consumers find deals at an affordable cost. Groupon has a corporate social responsibility department which has employees who work on “strengthening local communities, connecting customers to their neighborhoods, and making Groupon a better place to work” (Carlson) Many employees devote their time toward good causes. For example, an employee by the name of Tom McGraw spearheaded the coffee revamp project which replaced nine Keurig machines with trios of airpots that use large-batch coffee grounds. This resulted in better and more cost-efficient coffee. According to Groupon, “Since its implementation in April 2013, the ‘Coffee Project’ has saved more than an estimated 12,000 K-cups and $3,700 per month (that’s about 108,000 K-cups and $33,300!)” (Carlson). The thousands of K-cups would have ended up in landfills which negatively impacts the environment. Groupon’s revenue continues to grow. In the first quarter of 2014, Groupon’s revenue increased 26%, to $757.6 million. In the first quarter 2013, revenue was $601.4
Certainly he committed many mistakes and lacked much knowledge in order to manage a company with such exponential growth, yet the blame doesn’t fall entirely on him. His failure wasn’t due to being a bad leader or CEO; he failed because he would never be capable of managing a company of such size. To operate a business of such a size not only do you need knowledge and strategies, you also need a well-prepared team in order to help you manage the company. Being a music major wasn’t to his advantage here, especially since his company was growing so quickly. Furthermore the niche market, which Groupon is based on, consists purely of marketing and promotional advertising. This is a delicate market because ruining your image would entail loosing a great majority of clients.
Based on the market and situational analysis, the marketing plan for Groupon produces the internal, and external environmental analysis the report has identified the strategic future for the company. Based on the competitive advantage the report has made recommendations for the effective marketing in future with respect to product prices place and distribution of the business.
Most businesses start with the primary thought of making money. As a small grocery store chain, it is hard to compete with the larger national grocery stores, which often force the smaller local stores out of business. It is this dynamic, with the help of consumers, which is forcing both small and large businesses to reconsider their organizational goals and outcomes to include social responsibility. A successful business understands their customers, learns what their customers presently need, and foresees what their customers will need in the future.
In a Society for Human Resources Management study, companies with strong sustainability programs have team members that have 55% better morale and 38% better employee loyalty. Companies have overall better employees when they are running a socially responsible business. Another report by Net Impact’s called “What Workers Want” states “that 45% of employees would take a 15% pay cut for a job that makes a social or environmental impact. Another 51% of workers say that helping “make a better world” and making a “contribution to society” are essential for their ideal job.” This would benefit TechFite as this time as they are going through a budget crunch to have their team members be willing to take a small pay cut if they knew the money was going to a good
Groupon targeted consumers with emails, and social media exposure such as Twitter and Facebook. Advertising relied on word of mouth from friends and families, and referral vouchers. Groupon also engaged in marketing campaigns related to gimmick consumer challenges to drive activity in an attempt to increase email subscribers. The positives of Groupon to the consumer were the perception that products and services were being acquired and utilized for a discounted price. The perception that a consumer was receiving a discounted deal was very
After discovering errors in its accounting and the failure to set aside enough reseveres for customer refunds, Groupon. Inc announced revision of its first financial results posted as a public company in April 2012, which resulted in a cut to its 2011 fourth-quarter revenue of $14.3 million. In addition, this revision has reduced its fourth quarter operating income by $30 million, net income by $22.6 million, and earnings per share by $0.04, due to an increase of operating expenses after compliance with GAAP.
The brilliance of the concept is that while engaging the consumers to stay on their friends and family about the deals, they are simultaneously advertising the app and concept. Groupon is basically acting as a bridge of communication between the buyer and the seller, as the consumers may be unaware of the seller’s very existence.
Andrew and his partner, Eric Lefkofsky came up with another company and created Groupon, which launched in November 2008 where it first started in Chicago. Eric provided Andrew $1 million in “seed money” to drop out of school and got Groupon started because Eric developed the idea. Groupon’s first deal was to buy two pizzas for the price of one in a restaurant on first floor of the building where Groupon started.
Groupon is a deal-of-the-day website that is localized to major geographic markets worldwide. Launched in November 2008, the first market for Groupon was Chicago, followed soon thereafter by Boston, New York City, and Toronto. Groupon has over 50 million subscribers across 300 cities in more than 40 countries. The idea for Groupon was created by Andrew Mason who is currently the company’s CEO. [update]Groupon serves more than 150 markets in North America and 100 markets in Europe, Asia and South America and has amassed 60 million registered users. The growth in the future is likely to be at a slower pace, primarily because the company is already one of the largest in the local deals space.
I believe that Groupon has become successful for many different reasons. First of all, Groupon was the first to transport the traditional “Coupon clipping” to the online world. This opened many opportunities. It was something new, exciting to consumers that they hadn´t seen in this way. So Groupon had a first mover advantage even though they only connected already existing ideas and technologies in a new way. By being online Groupon could reach many, possibly millions, of people at once. This was a strong argument when Groupon talked to local merchants. As most of these merchants did not have an extensive marketing budget and were not necessarily familiar with new
However, by nature, customer priority on great deals only and unlikely in the future to purchase at higher retail prices. In the run long, the mechant come and go without continue offering they products / services to Groupon’s customers.
Founded by Andrew Mason, Groupon stemmed from ‘The Point’, mason’s first website that had been launched in 2007 (Sennett, 2012). The Point was mainly based on social action; that if sufficient people believed that there was an issue that needed solving, they would take responsibility and solve it. Although The Point had failed to reap the expected revenue, it played a significant role in enlightening Mason and other stakeholders on the importance of group action. In that case, in November 2008, Groupon was launched with the aim of achieving a buying power that was collective (Sennett, 2012). On its inception as a website from The Point, Groupon, deploying the group persuasion concept, offered massive discounts via mass purchase. At first, the
Starbucks is renowned for its morality due to their innovative sustainability and environmental policies and operations. They strive to go beyond mandated regulations by implementing ethics as part of their core practices. However, no matter how flawless their code of ethics is; they, too, face ethical issues and commit unethical acts. First, they are responsible for putting small, local coffee shops out of business which creates a uniform retail culture throughout cities. Second, they advertise to provide 100% fair trade coffee when it is not truly 100% fairly traded. Third, they use hormone added milk that is detrimental to the human body as well as the environment. Fourth, they set unrealistic, unattainable recycling goals, so they were unachievable; in turn, their trustworthiness is hindered and their reputation is tarnished. Lastly, it was revealed that Starbucks discovered ways to avoid paying taxes in the UK. To this day, Starbucks continues to be recognized as an ethical company. Although sometimes controversial, they are innovatively striving to positively change the ways of society and business operations.
Groupon is an app that searches through more than 500 cities and brings you the bestdeals in many spheres of life like food, technology items, and apparel among other categories. It goes hunting down for vouchers, any entertainment deals, savings for particular restaurants, and discounts on fashion. This app is free.