1. How has an understanding of consumer behavior helped Groupon grow from 400 subscribers in Chicago in 2008 to 60 million subscribers in 40 countries today?
2. What is the Groupon Promise? How does the Groupon Promise affect a consumer’s perceived risk and cognitive dissonance?
3. Describe the five-stage purchase decision process for a typical Groupon user.
4. What are possible psychological and sociological influences on the Groupon consumer purchase decision process?
5. What challenges does Groupon face in the future? What actions would you recommend related to each challenge?
University of Chicago graduate student Andrew Mason was in a rut. “There’s so much to do in Chicago,” he explains, “but I found myself going to the same movie theaters and restaurants.”
To help people like him try new places, Mason started a website that offered coupons to large groups. He reasoned that people would try something new if the price was low enough, and that businesses would offer low prices if they knew they could sell a large quantity. The result was Groupon, a company that offers “group coupons” in deal-of-the-day offerings for local or national businesses. Consumers love the concept, buying everything from restaurant certificates, to yoga lessons, to tickets to a museum exhibit. “We think the Internet has the potential to change the way people discover and buy from local businesses,” says Mason.