Check Out: Groupon Has a Drinking Problem - Update 2

Forbes.com
Brendan Coffey
March 16, 2011

That $6 billion Groupon's Eric Lefkosky turned down from Google last year is probably looking a little better now.

The Massachusetts Alcohol Beverage Control Board, aka the no-fun guys, have told Groupon it appears to have been violating the state's laws on discounting booze since its inception. Here's part of the letter sent to the company in February, as reported yesterday by the Boston Globe:

"I am hopeful that the long-established, clear, bright lines of the boundaries of legality have not vanished in the rear-view mirror of entreprenurism driven by unbridled and imprudent, if not reckless, enthusiasm," william A. Kelley Jr., the commission's legal counsel, wrote to Groupon in the February letter.

That takes a bit of the shine off the discount deals, now that beer, wine and sangria are excluded from your $50 Groupon to Beefsteak Charlie's. Yesterday's deal for an Essex restaurant had a blodfaced "Not valid toward alcohol" on the offer.

click here to read the full article.

Check out this interesting marketing technique...

WEB REVIEW: With Groupon and its ilk, daily deals drive demand
By Jim Cota
IBJ.com
October 30, 2010

A few months ago, something interesting happened.

A small company in Chicago called Groupon sent out an e-mail offering to sell a Gap gift card with a $50 value for $25. It was part of a marketing campaign - fully endorsed by Gap, by the way - to test the waters with a national campaign of this type. With no prior frame of reference, neither Groupon nor Gap had any idea what to expect, but I think it's fair to assume the results exceeded their wildest aspirations...

To read the full article... click here.