全通翻譯/翻譯社

Groupon: A Force to Be Reckoned With

With group buying a pervasive phenomenon in Taiwan, leading companies in the sector have been cashing in. Founded in 2008, the market leader Groupon saw revenues surge to US$760 million in 2010, up from US$33 million in 2009. By January 2011, Groupon's value had reached US$4.75 billion. Named as the fastest growing company ever by Forbes Magazine, Groupon has over 70 million subscribers worldwide. All this has happened in the company's first two years of existence.

The secret lies in Groupon's service model. Featuring discounts of at least 50 percent every day, Groupon provides a platform for users to purchase vouchers for a variety of services and products. Subscribers receive an e-mail offering different daily deals, which kick in after the amount of people signing up reaches the required number for the deal. If this minimum target is not met, the deal is canceled. Coupled with the Web site's user-friendly interface, these unbeatable discounts make group buying a no-brainer.

But what really distinguishes Groupon from other group-buying Web sites is its local market orientation. Groupon has a strong sales force working closely with local businesses every day. Subscribers receive best-deal information only for the area they live in. This makes Groupon's marketing much more efficient and practical for local merchants than e-commerce Web sites offering geographically boundless deals.

全球團購大戰 ╳ Groupon 大軍壓境

隨著團購在台灣成為一普遍現象，這個產業的龍頭企業已從中獲利。二○○八年成立的市場領導者 Groupon，其營收從二○○九年的 3,300 萬美元激增至二○一○年的 7.6 億美元。到了二○一一年一月，Groupon 的市值已達到 47.5 億美元。Groupon 被《富比世》雜誌譽為史上成長最快速的公司，全球有超過七千萬名用戶。這些都在公司成立頭兩年的期間發生。

而秘訣就在於 Groupon 的服務模式。以每天都有至少五折的好康為特色，Groupon 提供平台讓用戶購買各類服務與產品的兌換券。用戶會收到提供不同每日好康的電子郵件，而註冊人數達到需求數量後，該好康就能成立。如果沒有達到最低人數目標，好康就取消。加上使用方便的網站介面，這些沒得比的折扣讓團購變得再簡單不過。

但真正讓 Groupon 有別於其他團購網站的原因乃其在地市場導向。Groupon 有強大的銷售團隊可和當地商家每天密切地合作。用戶會收到僅限於他們所居住區域的最佳好康資訊。對在地商家來說，Groupon 的行銷模式比電子商務網站提供的無地域限制好康來得更有效率且實際。

資料來源：biz 互動英語電子報