Although many media pundits have declared that newspapers are in a death spiral, group buying may -- just may -- have an antidote. This business is a perfect fit for the existing newspaper sales force, which has a deep Rolodex of local customers.
I may be an outlier, but I've decided to unsubscribe from nearly all my group-buying deals. Instead, I'm focusing on Yipit, an aggregation service that makes group buying more like shopping for groceries than waiting for that impulse offer to land in your in-box.
While news that Groupon has rebuffed Google's $6 billion offer has stolen the limelight, Amazon's $175 million investment in LivingSocial could end up shaking up the daily-deal business and helping the No. 2 e-coupon company gain ground against Groupon.
Some pundits have decried the Groupon model as easy to emulate, and predicted fierce competition and price wars. Web industry watcher Alex Salkever used to believe that, too -- but not anymore. Here's why.
Rumors are flying that Yahoo is hot on the heels of deal-of-the-day website Groupon, with valuations pegged at $2 billion and higher. But is this a good way for Yahoo to spend its cash?
Watch out, Groupon: Local reviews site Yelp has begun rolling out weekly deals in a number of cities. While the group buying site has a big leap on Yelp, there are many reasons why the latecomer could bridge the gap quickly.
America is in a group-buying frenzy. The rapidly growing craze sparked by website Groupon has spawned hundreds of clones and threatens to overwhelm people's e-mail boxes with Daily Deals. But businesses that use them risk resetting their customers' ideas of what a fair price is.
