I think a lot of people misunderstand what Groupon offers a business. Basically it's advertising, but in a way that makes it affordable for small businesses. The company offering their deal, is putting their name out there, and only has to pay for it when someone walks through the door an makes a purchase.<p>Tradition advertising means paying for your brand to be seen. Magazines, newspapers, ect can target markets, but not to a very large extent. Google, Facebook, ect can target their market better, and businesses only pay when someone clicks (ie shows a bit of interest in the company). This is why they are stealing traditional advertising revenue. Groupon took this one step further, and made it so that businesses only pay when a customer walks through the door. This opened up advertising to much smaller businesses, Mom and Pop shops, since there is no upfront cost.<p>You'd think that Groupon would be trying to target their deals better. Have a "select your interests" when you sign up. Yipit is doing this, and it's a pretty cool take on it. That type of service adds a lot more value then a generic daily deal.