How Effective are Groupon Promotions for Businesses?

Although social promotions, especially Groupon promotions, have been wildly popular with consumers, it is unclear how businesses fare upon running such promotions. In a survey-based study of 150 businesses that ran and completed Groupon promotions between June 2009 and August 2010, we find that the promotion was profitable for 66% and unprofitable for 32% of respondents. When compared to businesses with profitable Groupon promotions, those with...