Groupon Money and Small Businesses
Groupon, the largest of the online social coupon companies, may not be very beneficial for small businesses. There are many horror stories on the Web of small business owners who've lost thousands of dollars using Groupon. For those companies with high fixed costs and low marginal costs, such as yoga studios, the coupons can make sense.
Yet there are still other reasons to be wary of the Groupon money craze. Offering products and services at such steep discounts can risk diluting the brand that a small business may have taken years to build. Loyal customers are the foundation for any SMB, so making sure they remain happy should be a top priority. A sure way to perturb them is to offer the same meal, yoga class or latte they've been buying for years to a new patron at half the price.