Advantages And Disadvantages Of Livingsocial And Groupon For Consumers

Groupon is a deal based business that brings customers discounted deals from the businesses. As a result of massive success and the growing competition, the business is faced with the option of either selling to Google or developing an effective marketing strategy for continuing its own. In the due context, the underlying report proposes a marketing plan for successfully dealing with the market challenges (Chatterjee, O”Keeffe, and Streiff, 2012).

Attracts customers with other preferences and may compete broadly in the industry by branching out in new locations

Low pricing eventually results in loss of customer loyalty as pricing to bottom is a risky business strategy.

This is when the seller deliberately makes false statements of goods and this would be called fraud which is a criminal offence. Example of this would be someone selling a fake Apple watch and told the buyer that’s its real when it’s not. Under the Act, the court would fine the person that sold the watch. The customer that is affected would be able to cancel the contract and claim their money back.

knowing that you purchased a favorable product at a discount price will make you feel lucky, it is an awesome feeling! You will get only the best deals! Along with regular sales, awesome products at incredible prices when you use STORENAME discount

3) Individuals are willing to pay more for an exclusive product in order to impress others. The person that is impressed would find value in that item.

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

Andrew Mason, Founder & CEO of Groupon, had a big idea, but was not aware how massive it could grow. Before Groupon, Mason begun a website called ThePoint.org as a site for collective action, to get groups of people together to solve public and social issues. It wasn’t as effective as he projected, and so started to think of how he could take the group approach of ThePoint.org and turn it into a business channel. Mason believed the Internet had potential to change how people discover and buy from local businesses. That’s when Andrew Mason came up with the excellent concept for Groupon. “Part of Groupon’s success is the simplicity of its business model…” (Kerin & Hartley, p. 110) Groupon offers “Deal of the Day” coupons from local and nationwide

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.

This is very appealing for the customer as it provides a quick route for those who are shopping for bargains. This also keeps the customers looking at different parts of the store as this link leads to the display of many of their products. Sales and discounts can encourage so-called "trial and repeat" purchases. Retailers can use special offers such as buy-one-get-one offers. Coupons are another way to encourage purchases by offering discounts on products. Free gifts with purchase also encourage customers to purchase products and increase sales. Sales whether advertised in the store, online, in newspapers or via some other medium will help get customers into the store. Retailers can place sales signs in window displays as an incentive for customers to shop.

Living Social was launched by Tim O’Shaughnessy in 2009 (WELCH, 2012). Their headquarters is in Washington, D.C. Living Social has 48 million members around the world. About 5,000 employees around the world and 1/5 of them works in Washington, D.C. Groupon started in October 22, 2008 by Andrew Mason (Groupon Goes to market, 2011). Groupon headquarters is in Chicago.

On the other hand Groupon offers national as well as local deals, which caused the business to

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.

Making the offers timesensitive triggers a feeling in consumers that they might miss out on a chance that will not repeat itself if they don´t act now. Many even bought vouchers that they never redeemed, just not to miss out on an opportunity. In this sense Groupon is speaking to the risk-aversion of the majority of people. The thrill of seeing how much time is left on a coupon and how many others are acting as well, appeals to a person´s addictive behavior. We want to repeat the thrill of the bargain hunt. Groupon then made many moves to foster and expand its initial success. It expanded rapidly into more cities and later on even more countries. It fostered its connection with social media and the online world by setting up an affiliate marketing program that allowed bloggers and websites to earn commissions. This online referral was also expanded by giving consumers a direct incentive to refer Groupon by offering them a 10$ reward towards a future purchase. Groupon also heavily invested in paid search engine advertising and even created an ad that was shown during half time of the super bowl. So, to sum up, Groupon made sure that its existence spread as fast and as much as possible.

Customer service issues: Many small and new companies participate in Groupon. Usually, they are not prepared to handle overwhelmed sales and overlook the customer inquiries. This will affect the image of Groupon for poor customer service and response. Furthermore, the buy now and use later concept has made the customer unhappy due to the appointment has so limited and was blocked out of peak season.