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One of the knocks on Groupon has always been how easy their product is to clone, and how the competition in the space will inevitably drive margins down.

• iaskwhy 15y ago
  It's not that easy to clone a user base though which is the leverage of most niche sites. Not saying Amazon can't do it, it is Amazon so anything is possible but it's not a general rule. For example, if I was the one doing a clone of Groupon I would most probably fail since I lack the resources (sales people) to do better than them.
  • jfager 15y ago
    That's true, but then yet another knock on Groupon is that it's not clear they actually have any sort of exclusive access to their userbase. It doesn't really cost a Groupon user anything to also sign up for LivingSocial or AmazonLocal, and a user looking for good deals actually has the incentive to sign up for as many of these services as are available (a good deal can come from anywhere). There's also the common observation from Groupon advertisers that Groupon users aren't necessarily particularly desirable customers. They're often deal hunters who have no interest in becoming regular customers after they've used their coupon (not that LivingSocial or AmazonLocal users would be any better in this regard). Edit: also worth pointing out, this is why I think Square's latest offering has the potential to knock it out of the park: user and merchant stickiness, going after loyalty rather than dealhunting, etc.