Media

Time Out London Launching New Email Spamming Service to Compete With Groupon

Chuck Ansbacher | Friday 1 April, 2011 11:45

Groupon founder Andrew Mason may or may not be kicking himself in the dick these days for turning down Google’s reported $5-6 billion buyout offer. Less than a year ago, hardly anyone had heard of Groupon. But then a few months ago, Groupon was the buzz of the online world — a hot new monetisation model which, with 2010 revenues of US $760 million, was actually successfully monetising. Making money! A rare thing for web startups. An even rarer thing in this economy. So rare, in fact, that Mason figured he’d hit upon a winning business model, didn’t need to sell anything to Google to keep success alive, and turned down billions of unbelievably real American dollars.

It’s amazing what a few months can do. One thing that Mason, who we assume is smart, apparently didn’t count on is the mind-boggling preponderance of companies that would copy his exact business model. Entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, startup junkies, established web services like (we never saw this one coming) Google, and even publications are all jumping on the straight-to-the-spam-folder-of-the-day bandwagon.

The latest? That diarist of every cupcake, burlesque show, or twee market — Time Out.

Time Out is promising exclusive discounts, deals and savings, so pretty much the exact same thing as every one of their competitors. The only difference? These deals will be hand picked by Time Out! Which is not a selling point!

Hilariously, although the term Groupon only entered the cultural lexicon around the same time everyone found out King George VI had a stammer, Time Out is already very late to this dumb game. American businesses are already experiencing what’s known as Groupon remorse, and anyone who signs up for more than one of these services knows how quickly the prospect of buying a bunch of food at a place you’ve never heard of turns from new and exciting to the modern equivalent of phone solicitation — instead of calling at dinner, these things clog your inbox at breakfast.

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