Aug 192011
 

The company’s product is not more valuable to users as more people adopt the platform. If anything, the fact that Groupon is witnessing decreasing revenue per merchant and fewer Groupon purchases per subscriber in its maturing markets suggests that growth may actually decrease Groupon’s value to its customers. Yet, Groupon maintains a blind faith that growth will be its salvation.

via Groupon Doomed by Too Much of a Good Thing – Rob Wheeler – Harvard Business Review.

The end is pretty clear; discounts are limited by the real costs merchants have in order to do business. More discounted customers means less and less profit. -JA