Firstly, selling any commodity for 10-15% of its market value will attract lots of opportunistic buyers. This isn't an "Indian" thing. You could try this in other countries by selling, say, Kale or Chicken Breast or Soylent, and people would still sign up. A deal's a deal in every country.
Secondly, Groupon was selling 3000 kg per day, with a limit of 1 kg per order. Some sites mention they sold out the first day within 80 minutes. Other than that, I haven't seen any evidence/data about the incoming traffic that caused the site to crash. So till I do, I'll treat news of the "crash" like a marketing gimmick from the company.
Lastly, as other folks have commented, Groupon India isn't exactly the platinum standard for ecommerce website design or operations in India.
Given this history - of poor design, senseless acquisitions and multiple u-turns in strategy - I wouldn't be surprised if their code is a taped-up patchwork that will crash regardless of 90% discounted onions.
Its groupon, what is groupon if not a marketing ploy?
> Firstly, selling any commodity for 10-15% of its market value will attract lots of opportunistic buyers....
Well yea, thats the whole idea of groupon, the news here is that an onion sale crashed their site, that is funny to westerners because, well, its onions.
> Secondly, Groupon was selling 3000 kg per day, with a limit of 1 kg per order. Some sites mention they sold out the first day within 80 minutes. Other than that, I haven't seen any evidence/data about the incoming traffic that caused the site to crash. So till I do, I'll treat news of the "crash" like a marketing gimmick from the company.
> Given this history - of poor design, senseless acquisitions and multiple u-turns in strategy - I wouldn't be surprised if their code is a taped-up patchwork that will crash regardless of 90% discounted onions.
I don't even know how this is relevant to the story or has anything to do with this discussion.
R u just mad cause you can't move that much onion?
> Given this history - of poor design, senseless acquisitions and multiple u-turns in strategy - I wouldn't be surprised if their code is a taped-up patchwork that will crash regardless of 90% discounted onions.
Can you qualify your comments with what is good design, sensible acquisitions and what you'd call the "correct" strategy? Have you ever started or steered a company that went on to become something? Even half as big and inspirational as Groupon?
Senseless acquisition = entering a fast-growing market like India by acquiring a 2nd or 3rd tier player like SoSasta.com(http://www.techinasia.com/groupon-india/). Instead, they should either have entered directly, or bought out a leading player.
Multiple u-turns in strategy = going from SoSasta.com to Crazeal.com to Groupon.in in the space of 2 years, without any traffic or revenue results to show for it.
I'll ignore your last question asking about my qualification to comment. Because it has no relevance at HN.
> Have you ever started or steered a company that went on to become something? Even half as big and inspirational as Groupon?
This is a terrible line of argument, since it considers the possibility of problems being obvious even to a layman as nonexistent. The next time you're tempted to make such an argument, ask yourself: "Have i ever made a full-length feature film?" I'm sure the answer for yourself is no, yet you have surely criticized one.
Depends on you feel about sex and drugs and rock'n'roll and homicidal transvestites. Worth catching as a cultural artifact. Cringe-level is very, very high for 2013 viewer.
Firstly, selling any commodity for 10-15% of its market value will attract lots of opportunistic buyers. This isn't an "Indian" thing. You could try this in other countries by selling, say, Kale or Chicken Breast or Soylent, and people would still sign up. A deal's a deal in every country.
Secondly, Groupon was selling 3000 kg per day, with a limit of 1 kg per order. Some sites mention they sold out the first day within 80 minutes. Other than that, I haven't seen any evidence/data about the incoming traffic that caused the site to crash. So till I do, I'll treat news of the "crash" like a marketing gimmick from the company.
Lastly, as other folks have commented, Groupon India isn't exactly the platinum standard for ecommerce website design or operations in India.
In 2011, they (specifically, the Indian company they acquired and later folded into Groupon India) leaked 300,000 user passwords that were stored as cleartext (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/28/groupon_india_privac...)
The same year they decided to rebrand themselves to Crazeal.com (http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/03/no-groupon-in-india-company...), only to re-re-brand themselves as Groupon India in Nov 2012 (http://www.afaqs.com/news/company_briefs/?id=55477_Groupon+I...)
Given this history - of poor design, senseless acquisitions and multiple u-turns in strategy - I wouldn't be surprised if their code is a taped-up patchwork that will crash regardless of 90% discounted onions.