In a post over at the HBR site, I note that Groupon's business model continues to be problematic. In response, I received some updated news from Sander Daniels, who runs a site called Thumbtack that acts as kind of a clearinghouse for daily deals. Here's what they found:
We reviewed 10 daily deals offered by Groupon and Livingsocial, and the "regular" prices quoted by Groupon and Livingsocial were higher in 8 of the 10 cases than the prices quoted by the same merchants when we called them.
This seems like deceptive marketing to consumers, no matter whether it's the small businesses, the daily deal sites, or some combination of the two that is causing this price inflation.
To read the full report, follow this link:
http://www.thumbtack.com/blog/case-study-are-daily-deal-discounts-inflated/