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
How would you describe the leadership skills of Andrew Mason? How would you rate his leadership style? In what ways does he fit the profile of the typical business founder? In what ways is he different?
The project Groupon was launched in the year 2008. The idea was launched for dealing with the already existing business The Point that was a platform for starting and pledging a campaign. Andrew Mason, the CEO of the company, started a group for making it more profitable as well as easier to manage a business in comparison with The Point.
Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Director of the Hutchins Center for African American Research at Harvard University, and an esteemed Alphonse Fletcher University Professor. According to his Harvard University profile he is an “Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, journalist, cultural critic, institution builder…and the recipient of fifty-five honorary degrees and numerous prizes.” Professor Gates was also the first African American scholar to be awarded the National Humanities Medal. In 1973 he earned his Bachelors in English Language and Literature from Yale University, and in 1974-1979 he got his Master’s. and Ph.D. in English Literature from Clare College at the University of Cambridge (Department of African and African American Studies). Throughout many of his texts Gates provides examples of the ambiguity of language and identity, and the oppressive role ideology plays in the black community; allowing readers to apply the idea of deconstruction to our own daily experiences
Frank Sennett’s book Groupon’s Biggest Deal Ever chronicles the rise to internet glory of multi-billion dollar company, with an unlikely captain at the helm. That man is Andrew Mason and eccentric computer nerd who ended up finding himself touted as the next Mark Zuckerberg. Book tells the unlikely tale of a 29 year old start-up geek and the cold calculating but reasonable investor behind him, Eric Lefkofsky. Together they would go on to eventually found a company that would turn down Google’s 6 billion dollar offer, the biggest deal in internet history.
The three problematic areas that Groupon will face in its future are use and repeat purchases, managing its growth, and high levels of competition. For some of us we by our coupons months in advance and forget to use them which often leaves us dissatisfied about the purchase. Still with its lack of customer loyalty new subscribers are flocking to the website, which has created a demand for continuous expansion of the company’s infrastructure as well as goods and services that it offers. Moreover, the inundation of mobile devices has created some competition. Now anyone with a smartphone can save money on the spot. This has leveraged the competition against Groupon. For example will shopping at Kohls I used a 20% off coupon I found on my phone
The premise is simple -- companies get free coupon advertising without paying any upfront costs. Merchants sign up and agree to certain promotional limits, and Groupon does the rest.
Before Groupon was invested, there was company named The Point that was founded by Andrew Mason and it showed poorly which led failure. The purpose for The Point was to improve the online fundraising experience for businesses’ website but people were hesitant to contribute money to causes if they didn’t think the money would make a difference for the company but it failed due to not enough traffic into their website.
Groupon is a global e-commerce marketplace connecting millions of subscribers with local merchants by offering activities, travel, goods and services in more than a total of 28 countries. In 2011 Groupon put out some advertisements during the Super Bowl in which viewers here not too pleased with. Groupon’s mission behind its advertisements was not intended for its viewer audience to misread them, but instead the company was making fun of itself along with the genre of celebrity endorsements. Groupon is actually raising money for a lot of the causes that viewers thought the company may have been mocking or making fun of. Groupon’s intended mission was established to bring more funding as well as support to the highlighted causes.
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.
We cannot deny how big of an impact social media has on our lives now, not only on people but businesses too. It has opened a whole new door to the business world and given them a big opportunity to interact and attract a larger amount of customers. It’s given us a new and faster way of communication by exchanging pictures, stories, news, blogs, online discussions, etc. In exchange businesses have benefited by a long shot just by the click of a button. With the help of the Internet a company no longer is dependent on a particular customer base to survive because now it can reach out to a worldwide audience within seconds. It’s imaginable the countless business attributes of all social media to this day and still is growing. Social media
Not only will a business have to offer a steep discount for a product or service, but will also have to pay a high commission structure to Groupon, just for listing the deal.
In my opinion Groupon is not a ready-to-go solution to the problem of low marketing budgets of many local merchants. If Groupon is good
With the internet technology, everyone can stay at home for online shopping. What’s more, if you can enjoy daily discounts with all the information, home delivery and 24-hours daily operation, that’s all can be found by buying Groupon. Groupon, the company has successfully captured millions of online consumers throughout the world. The marketing strategy of Groupon captures the consumer behavior. Consumer buying behavior, defined as... “The buying behavior of final consumers, individual and households who buy goods and services for personal”.Groupon consumers mainly responses to:
“The biggest risk you can take, is to take no risk” is a wise quote from Mark Zuckerberg, a man who is definitely is a strong abider of his very words. But what makes this man such a risk taker? This man, Mark Zuckerberg, created Synapse, is the founder of the Facebook era, and is the world’s youngest billionare.He is a high school programing prodigy and a software developing genius. Mark’s most famous accomplishment, Facebook, is the world’s largest social networking site. Heard of it? Good or Bad? Member or not? You have most likely encountered talk of this phenomenon. Is it a phase or an addiction? A help or a hindrance? Whatever it is, Mark’s accomplishments updated his and our statuses permanently .