Groupon loses best bargain to Google

I've mentioned Groupon in three different articles:

Jul 22, 2011
"Focus on what is truly important or else we'll lose sight of what matters." A quote from Augie Ray about Groupon earning a billion dollars and losing half of it. 360 Convos: "Forgot passWARD?" and other quotes.

Aug 02, 2011
"Shoppers will be encouraged to bundle their purchases, but fresh off the Groupon tide, they will shop for sport, hunting for low ticket items—or value packages—to fulfill pent up anxiety of not spending during bad economy." 360 Convos: 'Preductions' the art of predicting the known.

Aug 04, 2011
"56% of Americans check online news daily, and the remaining 44% check Groupon." 360 Convos: The Flipside of the news .

Giorgiadis, short stint at Groupon

Today, 360 Convos gives you the fourth reference to Groupon. After five months, the COO of Groupon, Margo Georgiadis, quit and went back to Google.

Those weighing in surmise "skepticism of the company's business model."

As the business community continues to second guess Georgiadis' decision and the reasons behind it, I'd like to cut to the chase. It only took Georgiadis five months to figure out what I knew all along.

Groupon is no place for smart people.

A retailer or service company cannot run a successful business model on the idea of anesthetizing the consumer to price. Consumers need to believe in the value of the product or service they are receiving. Employees need to see the value beyond the big paycheck they may have been wooed with. They need to see the value in the company,

Shed the focus on price. Sell the value.

Or, like Google does, give everything away free, and sell the consumer.