Business Case Study: Groupon Company

Recently, Wells Fargo employees, trying to meet onerous sales goals, created as many as 2 million unauthorized savings, checking and credit card accounts creating a huge scandal for the San Francisco-based institution. It has prompted calls for a wide-ranging investigation into the banking industry, where sales goals are common and complaints of unauthorized accounts have been lodged against other banks. I hereby have examined this issue thoroughly and would like to provide an analysis and two solutions that can prevent these types of scandals from occurring again; one is the modification of daily sales target system and the other is the institution of technology to verify customer contacts.

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 company has the presence with its original name used in its domain on the internet and under other domain like in India where the domain is “nearbuy”. Despite some controversies about the company and its business model, Groupon continues to grow up and nowadays is one of the companies based on ITs that deals in the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation (NASQAD) as GRPN.

Groupon is a real deal industry that operates within the Electronic commerce also referred to as e-commerce is a module of business that employs computer networks, namely the internet to trade and to sell and buy. At its essence it is an industry that uses technology and the internet to conduct business. Moreover, the e-commerce industry may employ online shopping where customers can use internet access to shop and trade between businesses or between customers and businesses. Groupon is a geographically diversified publicly traded company that operates based off of the ecommerce sale of the day model. This industry business model caters to customers shopping for deals and employs the means of using marketing, and cost saving strategies to entice potential clients by offering discounted coupons to potential clients for savings at various groups. There are discretionary concerns that are notably present for companies that operate in this industry, namely the fact that in a weak economic environment people are less likely to spend money on memberships at clubs and eating out at premier places.

I believe that Groupon has become successful for many different reasons. First of all, Groupon was the first to transport the traditional “Coupon clipping” to the online world. This opened many opportunities. It was something new, exciting to consumers that they hadn´t seen in this way. So Groupon had a first mover advantage even though they only connected already existing ideas and technologies in a new way. By being online Groupon could reach many, possibly millions, of people at once. This was a strong argument when Groupon talked to local merchants. As most of these merchants did not have an extensive marketing budget and were not necessarily familiar with new

Groupon was founded in 2008 by CEO Andrew Mason; Groupon is the market leader in the daily deal industry. The company has shown remarkable growth since 2009, now with over 150 million subscribers worldwide and 1.6 billion dollars of profits in 2011 (Slade, Hawkins & Teng).

TWOS is a planning tool used by managers to strategize and position their business in the order that assures sustained positive performance. TOWS is simply an inverted SWOT common used on analyzing performance and position of businesses. while SWOT begins with strength, weakness, opportunity and then threats faced by a business, TOWS matrix of business analysis begins with threats, opportunities, weaknesses then strengths faced by a business in that order. Under TOWS matrix of business analysis, threats and opportunities categorize as external environment factors that affect the business in particular ways (Koontz and Weihrich 112). Strengths and weaknesses usually categorize under internal environment that impact a business in particular ways.

“Groupon is the fastest growing company in the daily deal social e-commerce arena. For this reason, their growth and globalization strategy is of particular interest to any researcher or investor interested in understanding this industry and its potential future growth and development” ( Hughes, Breytenbach, 2013).

Groupon is a deal of-the-day site giving top notch rebates on products or administrations for occupants of a specific market. This deal as of now exists in more than 150 urban communities in North America and in more than 100 around the world. Essentially, Groupon highlights an area particular coupon every day, and the offer just winds up plainly substantial if a specific number of individuals additionally buy the rebate (subsequently the name-a straightforward blend of the words "Amass Coupon").

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.

We talked on the phone yesterday and you suggested that I should reach you via e-mail.

1.) As Groupon goes global, executives need to keep the values of other cultures in mind. If the company does not react to changes in other cultures, the business will not thrive in other areas of the world. Groupon must keep other perspectives in mind while deciding on contrasting deals and promotions to advertise. Daily deals proven to be extremely popular in the United States will not necessarily be the same deals that are popular in other areas of the world. Since humor is a key part of their advertising approach, Groupon should definitely hire different writers for promotions in other countries. A topic considered humorous in the United States could be immeasurably offensive in nations like China and Germany. Their company

This is where Groupon comes in with having the ability to save the consumer money anywhere from 50% to 90% through different services and products. Saving people money is only going to mean better things for Groupon in these economic times. We can only think that Groupon is going to fair well despite the economic situation the country is currently suffering.

Gap Inc., a leading global specialty apparel retailer, continued to lose market share and revenues as customer loyalty declined across the company’s five brands. Struggling to deliver a consistent product and customer experience, Gap Inc. was challenged to redefine its strategy once again. Going forward, the company is focused on driving long-term growth by expanding its customer base.

Peter Nicholson wishes to convert the factory in the north east to production of the electric taxi. Using data in Appendix C, Table 1, calculate payback period and the average rate of return.