NB: This is guest post by Daniele Beccari, vice president at Isango and a technology consultant.
Talking about Groupon gets people hot under the collar – and Stephen Joyce’s excellent post last week, with all the related comments, proved it once again.
But although it is not immediately obvious, the model might just work for some tourism-related businesses, without them all seemingly “racing to the bottom”.
Groupon simply channels the advertising budget of a merchant into the buyer’s pockets (and in Groupon’s, too).
It’s like a cashback model on steroids. No wonder consumers love it – anyone selling at a 70% discount would make a splash.
The model simply doesn’t work at these over-doped discount levels for most travel business structures.
But there are some cases where it can work.
Read the full story at:http://www.tnooz.com/2011/01/17/how-to/four-ways-groupon-might-work-for-travel-businesses/