Mikal E. Belicove

Tag: Groupon

  • New Sheriff to Police Daily-Deal Industry: Good News for Businesses?

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    The untamed terrain of the daily-deal space has become the wild west of online marketing, with no shortage of merchants and consumers complaining and little being done to curtail real or perceived poor practices. Merchant complaints about daily deals were highlighted recently when a British baker was forced to make 102,000 cupcakes to fulfill the…

  • Time for a Second Look at Daily Deals?

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    News of the demise of the daily deal may have been premature. A new study from Rice University shows that small businesses that partner with daily-deal providers do better as they gain experience with the marketing tactic. Interestingly, that finding stands in contrast to the same researchers’ conclusion last year that cast doubts on their value…

  • New Ways to Tap into Daily Deals Sites

    New Ways to Tap into Daily Deals Sites

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    On the surface, it would appear that the daily deals phenomenon is beginning to lose its luster. Not only have the visits to Groupon slowed this summer, Facebook dumped its deals program and Yelp cut its Deals sales staff by half. But none of these developments mean the daily deals business model has stopped evolving…

  • Climbing on the Social Media IPO Bandwagon

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    In recent weeks, we’ve seen the likes of LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD), Pandora Media (NYSE: P) and Groupon file to sell shares to the public. And while at least two of these stocks were flying high at the outset, they’ve since sunk — along with fellow entrepreneurs’ hopes for a similarly frothy showing. For its part,…

  • Why the Numbers Are Stacked Against Daily Deal Sites

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    Despite all the hoopla surrounding the growing army of daily deal websites, researchers at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business say the business model is standing over the coffin holding the final nail, and looking for a hammer. Utpal Dholakia, an associate professor of marketing at Rice, has released his third study on the…

  • Groupon By the Numbers: From Startup to IPO

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    For those of you who are casual observers rather than intense market players, news that a cards-held-close-to-the-vest internet startup has filed papers for an initial public offering (IPO) with the SEC is cause for exploration. Especially if that company is Groupon, the website whose brand is synonymous with the daily deal. By filing its S-1…

  • Daily Deals Not a Big Deal for Finding Customers

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    mikal
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    We’re hearing an awful lot these days about daily-deal websites. Facebook just launched Deals, Groupon turned down a $6 billion buyout offer from Google and now has a presence in over 500 local markets, LivingSocial has raised more than $600 million in funding from the likes of Amazon and T. Rowe Price, and just last…

  • 5 Facebook Developments for Businesses

    5 Facebook Developments for Businesses

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    The engineers at Facebook have been busy fine-tuning and adding new features lately, prompting the following primer on what’s new and — more important — what these developments mean for your business. Included among the additions and changes: There’s now a “Send” button for websites. “Deals” on Facebook launched this week, and its “Questions” function…

  • Which Daily Deal Site is Right for You?

    Which Daily Deal Site is Right for You?

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    mikal
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    Ever since Groupon rejected a $6 billion buyout offer from Google in December, everyone it seems has been talking about daily deals, including merchants and enterprising business owners who wonder which daily deal website is best for helping their product or service reach new customers. Here, I’m going to help answer that question. First up…

  • Starting Your Own Group Buying Site Without Joining Groupon

    Starting Your Own Group Buying Site Without Joining Groupon

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    mikal
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    Last week, I told you about The New York Times’ plan to join the likes of Groupon and LivingSocial in the group-couponing world with TimesLimited. But have you considered that you too can have your own group-buying website where you can promote your own products or services? Despite the ample praise bestowed on the big group-buying sites…

  • A Group Buying Site for Rich People

    A Group Buying Site for Rich People

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    The recent return of the luxury consumer has been well documented. Not only did Tiffany’s sales skyrocket over the holidays, sales at high-end shops Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdales have also seen their sales tick up. But how do small business owners capitalize on the wealthy increasingly whipping out their wallets? Oddly enough, The New York…