The informational aspect of the group-buying mechanism

To Groupon or not to Groupon: The profitability of deep discounts

“…2 Byers et al (2012a) study the dynamics of discount voucher sales as well as the impact of voucher coupon use on Yelp ratings. 3 A large theoretical literature has explored the mechanisms for "group buying," also known as "social discounting," in which a certain minimum number of consumers must agree to purchase before a deal becomes effective (see, e.g., Che and Gale (1997), Anand and Aron (2003), Jing andXie (2011), Subramanian (2012), Meir et al (2013), Hu et al (2013), Liang et al (2014), andSurasvadi et al (2014)). …”

Quick response and supply chain structure with strategic consumers

“…Anily and Hassin [23] study a deterministic problem of pricing and replenishment, where strategic consumers take into account holding or shortage cost. Other examples include strategic customers anticipating future prices of products [24], determining which product variant to buy [25], making decisions concerning group buying [26], and considering search costs [27]. Besides strategic customer behavior, researchers also explore consumer learning behavior [28,29], consumer inertia behavior [30,31], bounded rationality [32], customer disappointment aversion [33], and hyperbolic discounting [34] in operations management.…”

Exploring group-buying platforms for restaurant revenue management

“…The website Groupon has led the worldwide social commerce movement by using the principles of online group buying. Groupon's typical offers include percentage discounts at participating restaurants, coupons for savings given a minimum purchase at retail stores, two-for-one event ticket specials, and similar promotions (Liang et al, 2014). Each promotion becomes valid only if a sufficient number of members signs up, encouraging the viral sharing of individual offers.…”