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This is Groupon's best product to date. I don't know about everyone else on HN, but I feel like a good majority of people I know have at least bought one Groupo

This is Groupon's best product to date. I don't know about everyone else on HN, but I feel like a good majority of people I know have at least bought one Groupon by now, where their credit card is stored. To take that major advantage and apply frictionless rewards for users, is recipe for major disruption. Checking in to a place on Facebook and FSQ is almost entirely useless for a small business. They need $$$, not someone looking to get 10% off for letting their friends know they are at a place they probably are all well aware of. I hope Grocery stores sign up for this, so for once in their history they can make use of their 'loyalty program', which probably has over 10,000 purchases tied to my phone number for almost no purpose at all. I'm not saying this is perfect, but this is the first product i've seen in a while that seems like useful software.

sunchild 15y ago
Just as all roads in the enterprise lead to email clients, all roads in daily deals lead to loyalty programs. Forgive me for being blunt, but Groupon's move into loyalty programs was basically inevitable, if you really think about their business model. In fact, every merchant-middle-man-operation of any kind will eventually adopt (or join) a loyalty program. That's why you see them at grocery stores, pharmacies, credit card companies, online retailers, etc., etc., etc.
- Woost 15y ago
  Can you expand on why you think that is? (not arguing, just curious as to your reasoning)
  - sunchild 15y ago
    It's structural; a middle-man in the merchant sales cycle presents two fundamental value-add propositions: 1. Eliminate the hassle of finding and dealing with prospective customers, 2. Educate the merchant about customer demographics and preferences. That latter point is why all "sales broker" business models eventually lead to loyalty programs (which is a euphemism for data collection, volume incentives, and targeted advertising).
austincav 15y ago
Why is it their best product? Applying an idea at scale is strategic, not necessarily innovative. For example: - Bloomspot's $40M raise and accompanying shift in focus (http://www.bloomspot.com/media/assets/Bloomspot_Marketing_Kit_20110718.pdf http://www.bloomspot.com/media/assets/Bloomspot_Marketing_Ki...) - Swipely, Offermatic, etc. - GRS, a vendor of this data (http://www.grsgroup.com/ http://www.grsgroup.com/) - Also, dozens of similar ideas such as Amex using FB data: http://www.forbes.com/sites/moneybuilder/2011/07/20/link-like-love-sharing-is-caring-with-amex-and-facebooks-newest-app/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/moneybuilder/2011/07/20/link-lik... The pricing on this is not particularly attractive to merchants, especially small ones.

sunchild 15y ago

Just as all roads in the enterprise lead to email clients, all roads in daily deals lead to loyalty programs. Forgive me for being blunt, but Groupon's move into loyalty programs was basically inevitable, if you really think about their business model. In fact, every merchant-middle-man-operation of any kind will eventually adopt (or join) a loyalty program. That's why you see them at grocery stores, pharmacies, credit card companies, online retailers, etc., etc., etc.

Woost 15y ago
Can you expand on why you think that is? (not arguing, just curious as to your reasoning)
- sunchild 15y ago
  It's structural; a middle-man in the merchant sales cycle presents two fundamental value-add propositions: 1. Eliminate the hassle of finding and dealing with prospective customers, 2. Educate the merchant about customer demographics and preferences. That latter point is why all "sales broker" business models eventually lead to loyalty programs (which is a euphemism for data collection, volume incentives, and targeted advertising).

austincav 15y ago

Why is it their best product? Applying an idea at scale is strategic, not necessarily innovative. For example: - Bloomspot's $40M raise and accompanying shift in focus (http://www.bloomspot.com/media/assets/Bloomspot_Marketing_Kit_20110718.pdf http://www.bloomspot.com/media/assets/Bloomspot_Marketing_Ki...) - Swipely, Offermatic, etc. - GRS, a vendor of this data (http://www.grsgroup.com/ http://www.grsgroup.com/) - Also, dozens of similar ideas such as Amex using FB data: http://www.forbes.com/sites/moneybuilder/2011/07/20/link-like-love-sharing-is-caring-with-amex-and-facebooks-newest-app/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/moneybuilder/2011/07/20/link-lik... The pricing on this is not particularly attractive to merchants, especially small ones.