++ Les 5 failles du modèle Groupon. Il n’y a pas si longtemps, on nous présentait les sites de “deals” comme le nouvel eldorado du e-commerce mais alors qu’approche l’introduction en bourse de Groupon, le premier d’entre eux, rien n’est plus certain.
Les comptes de Groupon ne seraient pas si bons et son principal concurrent, Living Social, semble en crise. Ajoutez à ça Yelp et Facebook qui viennent d’annoncer qu’ils abandonnaient leurs propres services de deals après des essais non concluants, et c’est tout le secteur qui se trouve remis en question. Le fait est que de nouvelles startups se lancent dans les deals toutes les semaines et que le secteur est encore loin de la maturité. Groupon et les autres devront combler les cinq failles évidentes dans leur modèle, sans quoi d’autres s’y engouffreront. Être plus transparent Quel est le pourcentage de coupons payés qui sont réellement utilisés ? Groupon et Living Social devraient entrer en bourse prochainement, et on en saura sans doute un peu plus sur ces chiffres.
The terrible numbers that Groupon doesn’t want you to focus on « reDesign. The terrible numbers that Groupon doesn’t want you to focus on Note: If you have Groupon or other daily deal experiences to share, please email dailydeals@agrawals.org.
Even in its revised S-1 issued last week, Andrew Mason’s letter directs potential shareholders to three key metrics: gross profit, free cash flow, and the much laughed at adjusted CSOI. (The fact that they still mention this dog should tell you tell something.) Two of these three metrics are, in a word, crap. They paint an extremely optimistic view of the business. Gross profit (what I consider revenue) is the only one that is a useful measure of the company’s fortunes. Also read my editorial on how Groupon is trying to hide these numbers from investors. Here are some numbers that Groupon doesn’t want to focus on. Revenue and subscriber growth Revenue share to Groupon Subscribers and acquisition cost Merchant liabilities Sales effectiveness Staffing Misc. # of purported class actions against Groupon: 16 (up from 15 in 1Q).
++ Why Groupon Must Change Its Business Model for Long-Term Success. I needed sunglasses, the prescription kind.
I hadn't owned a pair in years, but this past summer I finally became fed up with squinting and wincing while daytime driving. Lo and behold, a few days after I decided to invest in some new shades, a Groupon for a local optical shop appeared. Pay $75 now for $175 off frames and lenses later. Serendipity. That was in July, and a couple of weeks ago, I finally found some free time to head downtown and cash in my coupon. It turned out that the Groupon promotion had been much more popular than the tiny shop had anticipated. Sometimes Good, Sometimes Bad. Look How Close Groupon Is to Going Bankrupt.