Are Groupon Coupons Getting Spammy?


The latest Groupon coupon fad reminds me of the mailing list spam days back in 1999.  Back in the day companies like Yahoo couldn't get their hands on enough lists of emails and would use these lists to pump out advertising offers left and right.  Eventually consumers got smart and had to use spam blockers and finally the Government required companies to offer opt-in email programs.  Groupon is not much different, however, this time they give you a sense of urgency by saying that inventory is limited.  Not only do most offers claim to limit the inventory but they often give you 50% off for a limited time.  Yes, it seems like a good short term promotional tool but how long will it last and what will it do for customer loyalty?

Will Groupon become a victim of their own success always chasing the next deal and lose customer support?  I think coupons should be scare commodity and not available to everyone.  If everyone has a coupon it defeats the purpose of pricing anything and creates a sense of dishonesty amongst your loyal customer base.  I think at the end of the day when this local coupon bubble pops the winners will simply be just good at local display advertising.  I think Google gets this as well and will will likely start see display ads targeted on mobile phones that show offers like this.

Groupon turned down an offer from Google to buy them for $6 billion dollars apparently and it looks like they are headed for an IPO.  I think this is a blessing in disguise for Google and they should be thankful that this did not work out.  The competition in the coupon space is furious and there are literary thousands of Groupon clones that do the same thing.   When Groupon first received funding and their valuation was north of $100M I said it was a great investor ponzi scheme and still think this.  Its a big house of hards that is only held up by the huge pile of cash they have been able to raise.  Its also not surprising to see them acquiring several companies in order to try and consolidate their competition.  I also wouldn't be surprise to see some more controversy surrounding this company get publicized before it tries to go public.  Groupon has lots of "skeletons in the closet" that will come out and at the end of the day the winners will ultimately be small niche local companies like Boomstreet who will be successful.   

Did Google's Failed Acquisition of Groupon Prompt a CEO Change?

Did Eric Schmidt fail to consummate an important acquisition of Groupon that prompted the change?  I personally am happy that Google did not buy Groupon because I think the company is very spammy.  However, the category is growing quickly and Wallstreet doesn't wait around for excuses of why the advertising giant does not have a product in the category of group buying and coupons for local businesses.

Or is it more about control and does Larry Page want more control of the company to make more acquisitions?  Is Facebook's increased threat of taking market share from the search giant prompting some paranoia.  The war is now on between company founders Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Larry Page of Google.   It will be interesting to see how each will handle the growing mobile advertising industry and Google has a huge head start.  It's kind of scary to see Apple and Google CEO have leadership issues as they are the two of the largest technology companies. 

Who is More Influential on the Economy Steve Jobs or Ben Benanke?

There is an argument to be made the Apple's $319 billion dollar market cap and its' publishing, advertising, software, retail and venture capital ecosystem of entrepreneurs and companies might be more influential on the economy than the Federal Reserve's interest rates controlled by Chariman Ben Bernanke.  Here are 10 reasons why:

1)  History has shown that the economy only grows when there is an ecosystem of technology that creates jobs & Apple has fueled the growth of tech which has created millions of jobs Worldwide.

2)  Ben's 0% interest rates have had no effect on whether millions of consumers Worldwide have made emotional Apple purchasing decisions.  Two thirds of the US economy is based on consumption and Apple is driving it.

3)  Ben Bernanke is an academic that relies on historical data to make reactive decisions when economic history rarely repeats itself.

4)  Steve Jobs relies on his vision to shape the future of the technology industry and millions of people are affected based on these decisions.

5)  The stock market always needs a leading growth stock story like AAPL in order for investors to get excited and put money to work in the market.  The Nasdaq 100 index QQQQ is 20% based on Apple and thus 99 other stocks are directly affected by how AAPL trades.

6)  0% interest rates over the last few years have done nothing but create a bond market and real estate bubble which does nothing for capitalism and growth.

7)  Steve Jobs has created wealth for millions of entrepreneurs who have started companies to feed off the Apple ecosystem.

8)  Ben Bernanke has put billions of dollars in the hands of bankers and bond fund managers to prop up the stock market and create a false sense.

9)  Foreign countries who invest in US Treasury Bills, like China, are not happy that the US is intensionally keeping interest rates low thus devaluing the dollar.  The Dollar cannot be devalued forever in order to finance the future and thus a long term bubble is forming if it were to rise suddenly.

10) Apple's stock (AAPL) has the largest market cap in the World at $319 Billion and if it were to lose value quickly it would take down a lot of hedge funds, pension funds who have jumped on the bandwagon of wealth creation and could be destruction if we are not careful.

Get well Steve!  We need you and Google to keep all entrepreneurs and investors excited about the future.  Technology NOT energy should be the basis of the World economy in order to leave a better place for our kids.