Disclaimer: It’s 2 AM and I am watching live BBC coverage of the tsunami to hit Japan. This will be a short post.
Groupon Logo. Source - www.Groupon.com
I was recently hunting down the blogs of my marketing group members and I stumbled upon Ali Birston’s blog post about Groupon. In her post she describes the general gist of the company, its enticing deals, and the creative way it has opened up the market to new deals. She concludes her post by saying that “and if you have yet to jump on this bandwagon I strongly suggest you do before the best deals are gone!”, a statement I very much agree with!
A Typical Groupon Add... not Bad! Source - www.Groupon.com
I must be honest, I am no longer a regular Groupon hunter… in fact, I cancelled my mailing services with them. But no, this is not because I don’t approve of their service quality, it’s because I simply did not enjoy fact that they attempted to get me to go to the zoo numerous times. All I wanted was cheap cameras and lenses… something they sadly do not frequently offer. So why do I still support Groupon? Because it’s marketing department is genious.
Ali paraphrases that Groupon has “accumulated 60 million subscribers within two years”. That’s a lot. In bad English: that’s a whole lot. I greatly respect Groupon for this accomplishment, especially since it essentially solely promotes other businesses.
However, I just want to make a brief comment about the supply chain of Groupon. Yes, I said it, supply chain. You may wonder, if Groupon does not even sell a product, does it even have a supply chain!? Well that’s exactly my question. In my opinion there is indeed a supply chain, though it is a short one. The companies represented by Groupon act as manufactures, they provide the deals offered by Groupon. Then, through an internet provider (distributor?), Groupon is capable of reaching out to its consumers. A short supply chain, but a supply chain nonetheless. Now, from the perspective of other businesses, I would say that Groupon is seen more as an agent; it is company that works independently to provide a product.
Ali is correct; Groupon definitely has much to offer to consumers! Jump aboard!