 Company Overview: This company is the fastest growing company of 2010, it has been featured on NBC, ABC, FOX, and Good Morning America. Groupon features daily deals on the best and interesting things to do, see, eat and buy. Started out in Chicago, CA now covers more than 150 cities around the world. It promises businesses a minimum number of customers that it will bring to them, and Groupon offers exclusive deals not available elsewhere. Groupon brings buyers and sellers together in ways that offer the consumer an unbeatable deal, as everyone loves bargains. Businesses also benefit by generating a new customer base. Since it started in 2008, it has saved customers over $300 million and the company is also generating millions in revenues, and employees 1600 people. Groupon was originally built on the concept of collective buying power for goods and services. Groupon charges no up front charges to businesses that want to advertise and run deals on their website. However, whenever a deal/coupon is sold on Groupon, the company keeps 50% of the money, and transfers 50% to the business owner. Right now, Groupon is only running deals with businesses they think will be profitable for them aswell. Groupon 2.0 just launched a few weeks back which allows consumers, and small business owners to make "stores" on Groupon to run deals, which Groupon will also get a percentage of the profit. To read more about Groupon 2.0 : http://bit.ly/i7u6AT Bad Press Groupon is a great service when viewed from a consumer's standpoint, however proponents might think differently. Marketing professionals believe that their is a difference between introducing customers to a new product, and constantly bombarding them with low priced deals. Some of the problems this causes is brand erosion, and decreases brand loyalty. Customers who ordinarily wouldn't indulge in high-end products and services to partake these customers are constantly hunting for the next great deal. The obsession with price doesn't necessarily make for a lot of brand loyalty or even brand awareness. To read more about Groupon proponents : http://reut.rs/a97Dv Acquistions Groupon has generated massive success in two years. Within the past two weeks Google has tried to acquire the group buying giant. Some might say that Google is overpaying for Groupon, but they have an extensive database and information of local advertisers, and Google wants Groupon's expertise on how to woo advertisers. Groupon however has backed off in this deal, I guess $6 billion just aint good enough any more these days. To read more about the acquisition please visit : http://on.mash.to/hRL2kX Headquarters  Groupon's Mission Our company philosophy is pretty simple: we treat our customers the way we like to be treated. That boils down to a few key things: We sell stuff we want to buy. A great price is only half the battle - it's also got to be a great product or service. Between our top-rated business partners and unbeatable prices, you should feel comfortable venturing out and trying something new - just because it's featured on Groupon. We want Groupon to be an addiction you can feel good about. No BS. We really want you to love Groupon. "Gotchas" and buried conditions that sour the experience are a terrible way to accomplish that goal. We want each Groupon purchase to feel too good to be true, from the moment you buy to the day you use it. If there's anything unusual about a deal (e.g. an inconvenient location), we go out of our way to point it out. Unbelievable customer service. Like you, we've suffered through hour-long "transfer-athons" with customer service departments, or waited days for an email reply to to a simple question. If you contact us, we'll do what it takes to make things right - and we'll do it fast. Competitors  Key People   Suneel Gupta is an entrepreneurial product guy, currently serving as head of product development for Groupon. Gupta has held variety of roles at many organizations. At Mozilla Labs he developed and launched Personas, which recieved over 15M downloads in the first year. He also has experience developing projects at Tata Consultancy Services, Accenture, and Sony Picture Entertainments. A fun fact about Suneel Gupta is he served as a blogger for MTV. Suneel and his brother Dr Sanjay Gupta on CNN launched Kahani Movement a production company which takes an open source approach to film. Suneel has a JD from Northwestern University’s School of Law and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management. He graduated with distinction from the University of Michigan with a degree in Information Systems.  How does Groupon work? "YouTube Video" Source : http://www.groupon.com/about |