Share Price Rises As Groupon (GRPN) Takes To The Big Screen
Only last month, Groupon suffered its worst single day slide on the NASDAQ since May 21, 2007, when shares slid by 10.6% on Wednesday, November 7. The third quarter results for the company were also less than positive with profits of $593 million compared to the analysts projections of $602 million.
At the time, there was much talk of a revitalized future for the company, resulting from its dedication to the modernization of its services. This included the introduction of card linked discounts, as opposed to traditional vouchers; helping Groupon in its continuing journey to becoming a utility.
Deal with AMC Theatres
Move on just a few weeks and the share picture is starting to look a little different. GRPN shares closed the day on December 3 at 3.12 (up from 2.92 at 7 November close) with continued stability looking likely following the company’s deal with AMC Theatres.
The deal, which is set to take force in the first half of 2019, means that Groupon users will have access to movie tickets for any AMC theatre across the US, through the online marketplace. The deal is set to be just the start of the relationship between the forward looking Groupon and the movie theatre giant. The two companies are set to look at further ways in which they can join forces in the future.
A step towards becoming a utility
Groupon CEO, Rich Williams, recently spoke to CNBC about the company’s move towards becoming a utility for its customers. It seems as though the AMC deal is an important move in the right direction; as the rise, and increased stability, in share prices has reflected. After all, visiting the movies is an important utility in the life of many Groupon customers.
Now that they are going to be able to purchase their tickets from Groupon, movie goers are more likely to start using the marketplace on a regular basis, rather than just when they receive an interesting offer in their inbox.
This is the movement that Hall was speaking of in his interview with CNBC. Traditionally, Groupon has relied on firing emails into customers’ inboxes, to attract attention to deals. This has meant that individuals have interacted with the company on just a handful of occasions each year. The company’s aim is to move away from the standard formula, to encouraging people to see them as the ‘go-to’ place when it comes to purchasing products and services such as entertainment tickets, dining out experiences and discounted products. The change is expected to increase an individual’s visits to the Groupon site from a few a year to several each week.
Already the deal with AMC is starting to make this happen. Given this fact, and the progress away from vouchers and into card discounts, it seems as though Groupon is making significant strides to securing a profitable future. Although continued analysis of ongoing share action, and the progress that is made with AMC, will need to be taken into account before future performance predictions can be truly accurate.
Note: This article originally appeared at Modest Money. The author of this article is Jeremy Biberdorf. Jeremy is the founder of Modest Money. After working many years in the website marketing industry, he decided to take on blogging full time and also get his finances headed in the right direction.
Category: Cheap Stocks
