Never a Lack of Ideas

One Great Deal Per Day Groupon has experienced tremendous growth because it offers one fantastic deal and one small "side deal" per day to a group of people in selected cities around the country. Yet, Groupon's existing business model only allows for growth in the form of attracting new customers in existing cities or expanding to new cities to attract new customers. Eventually, Groupon will run out of new cities in which to expand, so it needs to find a new way to grow. The solution? Sub-segmentation and targeted offers. Segmented Markets Aren't Good Enough Groupon currently segments its customers by geographic location. Essentially, the company has two key business principles: Offer one featured deal per day on the website, based on the city in which you live. Encourage customers to sign up to receive one email per day about the deals of the day. Herein lies Groupon's dilemma: The company knows that a certain percentage of its customers will not be interested ...

Imagine This You see an ad for Old Navy , Gap , or Banana Republic that tells you if you become a fan of theirs on Facebook , you'll receive 10% off of every order you ever make at any of the three stores for the rest of your life. The catch? To get the discount, you have to tell the store the email address that you use to log into Facebook every time you purchase a product, whether that's in the store and online. In exchange for being a fan of one of the above-mentioned stores, you get a tab on your Facebook profile that only you can see. It includes clothing recommendations for you from Old Navy, Gap, and/or Banana Republic, and the recommendations are constantly updating based on the season and your previous purchases. You can even buy clothing right from the Facebook tab and receive your discount. Once in a while the special tab even includes discounts on items that you might like. So, would you sign up for a service like this? I sure would. And I'd tell all of my frie...