You see them all over the place today, deals that you can’t
refuse. I have the Deal of the Day in my
local newspaper that allows me to get “something” for 50% off, usually a restaurant
or lift tickets at Woodbury Ski and Racket.
The most popular deal maker today has to be a company called Groupon. They offer deep discounts at local
establishments. You pay for the
discounted item or service upfront and as long as 20 people or more sign up for
the deal, you get the discount. Sounds
good? It is good, for you. The person offering the deal could end up
losing big time if there is no cap on the deal.
I read a couple horror stories in the last year about small businesses
losing big time because of way too many people accepting the deal.

The idea of Groupon is great but the cut that they take off
the top is what makes it very scary. For
deals under $10.00 they take 100% of the profits, ouch! I guess they think the advertising you get
out of the deal makes it worth the cost.
Maybe for a well established business but the small business owner
should think twice before they set up something like this.

Everybody wants to save money where they can these
days. I would try other ways of getting
people into your store or on your website before going for a service like
this. It could be a big gamble but it
could also have a big payoff. If you are
a business owner then you are used to taking chances. Think before you sign anything, the choice is
up to you, choose wisely.
Boris, Cynthia. "Groupon Gone Wrong: One
Customer’s Sad Tale." marketing pilgrim.com. N.p.,
20/09/2010. Web.
24 Feb 2012.
<http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2010/09/groupon-gone-wrong-
one-customers-sad-tale.html>.
Good post...Its weird how common group-ons are these days. I actually participated in one a couple of weeks ago with my friends. The deal was at Swings a wing place and the deal was ten dollars a person and all the wings and soda you can eat. We actually liked this deal and went back the next week end. Funny enough the deal was over. The ad said it was for the entire month so i asked the manager what happened, and just like your post said they were loosing money by offering the drinks. long story short this groupon failure has directly effected me.
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