More Restaurant Industry Pain via Groupon

March 30, 2011
Restaurateurs Think Yelp, Groupon Are Hurting Business

Many experts feel that Groupon and the practice of deep discounting, made popular by stingy customers during the 2008-2010 recession, is far more damaging to restaurant brands.

“The ultimate harm is the culmination of all of these group buying coupon programs and restaurants participating in them feed the addiction of coupon clippers, who hop from one restaurant to another,” says Joel Cohen of RestaurantMarketing.com, a leading consulting website for the food service industry. “I’ve definitely heard more horror stories than success stories.”

In my opinion, Groupon.com is to the restaurant industry what Amazon.com is to the strip mall industry.

February 13, 2011
The future of the strip mall: downhill

Today, the nation’s “healthiest” retailer is not Wal-Mart or Costco. It is Amazon. Amazon has exploited the increasing availability of broadband Internet and mobile technology to build a retail superpower. One of the biggest reasons why the strip is coming to an end is because bricks-and-mortar stores are becoming a smaller part of the retail landscape.

December 1, 2010
Groupon May Be Fastest-Growing Company Ever

Groupon, an Internet coupon start-up that is reportedly a Google takeout target, may be the fastest growing company in history.