Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN) is in search of partners for its operation in Asia, following weak guidance for the fourth quarter. To achieve the goal, the company has already brought in advisers, says a report from Bloomberg.
Groupon focusing on emerging markets
According to the company, advisers will assist with analyzing financial and strategic options that would offer more value to the shareholders, and will also identify the potential of business success for South Korea’s Ticket Monster and the rest of its Asia operations. Groupon CEO Eric Lefkofsky said that the company is determined to find partners instead of selling some of the business completely.
“We are starting to evaluate what we should be doing in those emerging markets,” Lefkofsky said in a phone interview to Bloomberg. “There are certain countries where we’d benefit from a partner.”
Groupon has guided fourth-quarter earnings to come in at 4 cents per share, excluding some items, and stated that “significant movement” in the foreign-exchange rates is controlling the profit. Analysts, on the other hands, were expecting 7 cents per share on an average. The company posted third-quarter earnings at 3 cents per share, and not counting a few items, the numbers came in better than the average analyst estimates.
Trying hard to woo customers
Starting as a daily deal e-mail company, Groupon is now investing in transforming into a full-blown e-commerce site. Lefkofsky is trying to compete with the players like Amazon by making Groupon a website offering thousands of discounts. Recently, the company added many new features such as a grocery loyalty program and listing of local business, but customers seems reluctant to accept the new form factor of the company.
To ramp up growth, Groupon has rolled over a number of new features over the past few months. The company launched Pages having over 7 million listings of merchants, with their business hours and a link to their websites. The company has also upgraded its iPhone app to include Apple Pay through which users can make payments by scanning their fingerprints. Snap by Groupon is yet another feature for mobile that pays money to people for buying grocery and other items from any retailer in the United States and Canada.
