A recent study shows that most businesses that try Groupon will not do it again:
http://www.businessinsider.com/groupon-survey-results-2011-7
About 60% of businesses considered their Groupon experience a success, but more than half of customers do NOT want to run another Groupon. Almost 40% of Groupon customers, meanwhile, thought their experience failed.
How viable can a business model where 40% of the customers view the experience as “failed” be? I’m sure it will settle out somewhere. But long term those bad experiences will permeate out as those involved start new businesses, or manage other businesses.
I’d be interested in polls about the experience of consumers using the Groupon offerings. I watch the offerings come in on my smart phone, but I’ve never “bit” on any.