Groupon bashing is full in fashion now. Techies are discovering their inner investment consultants and are developing previously unforeseen qualities as e-commerce experts.
If it just wasn’t so dirty, the whole scene might just be fine for Groupon. Nothing is better for a young enterprise than being underestimated by their competitors.
As Groupon is working towards an IPO, they apparently cannot make any open comments about the accusations being thrown at them. Therefore they have made an internal statement to their employees, which of course found its way into the public domain.
Very interesting to hear the comments from the other direction. Andrew Mason describes in a very detailed manner how he measures up the market, the potential for Groupon and his reaction to the remarks being made from the Groupon critics.
"While we’ve bitten our tongues and allowed insane accusations to go unchallenged publicly, it’s important to me that you have the context necessary to brush this stuff off.
I’ll summarize my excitement with four points:
1) Growth in our core business is strong
2) Our investments in the future — businesses like Getaways & NOW — look great,
3) We are pulling away from competition, and
4) We’ve built a great team that I would pit against anyone.
In other words, all the stuff that one would want to look good? It looks good."
The outlook is taken obviously from a very pro-Groupon perspective. But it is at least as exciting to read as the doomsday scenario.
"It’s kind of hard to build a Groupon"
The point that many copycats and self-proclaimed experts underestimate, is how difficult it is to simply copy the Groupon business model.
"If there’s a question I’ve received from Groupon skeptics more than any other, it’s, “how will you fend off the competition — especially massive companies like Google and Facebook?”
I could give a dozen reasons to bet on Groupon, but it’s impossible to predict the future or the actions of others.
Well, now the sleeping giants have woken up — and the numbers are showing that what was proven true with literally thousands of other competitors is just as true with the incumbents of the Internet: it’s kind of hard to build a Groupon."
Facebook has just shut down their Facebook Deals. And we will see how long Google will be able to hold out with Google Offers. At the same time, Groupon has apparently big plans with Groupon Goods.
Following the example of eBay, Groupon will be moving their international headquarters to Switzerland.
Related posts:
- Groupon IPO: The Best Analyses of the Public Offering
- Groupon IPO: Groupon Reveals Financial Performance Figures
- Groupon Now! and the Mobile Future
- Is Groupon Developing in the Right Direction for the Long Term?
Originally posted in German by Jochen Krisch, adapted for excitingcommerce.com by Jason Soo.
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