Groupon Horror: Bakery must make 102,000 cupcakes (opens in new tab)

(globalpost.com)

17 pointspagliara14y ago7 comments

7 comments

7 comments · 4 top-level

mrrasputin14y ago· 2 in thread

I fail to see what the issue is. Companies need to specify how many groupons they are allowing to be sold when in negotiations.

theDoug14y ago

Agreed. These things are covered in depth when setting up a Groupon, and Groupon has a pile of resources to help a business prepare to deliver what they're offering.

These stories pop up all the time, though, and the press keeps gobbling them up. I'm no fan of the company, but it's easier to paint Groupon as the villain than the individual business owner who didn't do the math of running their own business properly.

patio1114y ago

At the risk of stating the obvious, someone with a business that has 4k monthly turnover in cupcakes probably enjoys making cupcakes but is not necessarily an expert in industrial scale capacity planning. Groupon inverts the laws of physics for her business. Customer acquisition is no longer hard, gross margins are no longer $2 a cupcake. A part of me sympathizes.

dusing14y ago· 1 in thread

It looks like they did 75% off of $40 leaving them with just $5 after Groupon's cut. I don't know how that would ever work with all the labor needed to make a good cupcake. They should have stuck with 50% off and a cap on groupons. Poor planning by the business owner.

r00fus14y ago

I have heard that Groupon's sales folk are incentivized to have merchants not cap their offers, despite how bad it is long-term for both Groupon and the merchant (if the merchant can't time-shift the purchase, say requiring scheduling)... it's a quick win.

This is a logical pressure coming from the rushed IPO and lack of strategic planning for competition.

asanwal14y ago

I remain skeptical of Groupon, but this story seems to be more about an idiot small biz owner than about Groupon being bad for business.

chii14y ago

It just goes to show, if you don't plan and look out for yourself, others will just take advantage of you. This is especially true in the business world.

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