Customer service department at Groupon in Chicago on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018. The story is for Groupon's 10-year anniversary. (Jose M.Osorio/Chicago Tribune/TNS)
CHICAGO: Groupon launched a decade ago this fall with a two-for-one pizza deal at Motel Bar in Chicago, a humble beginning that preceded a whirlwind rise and an even faster fall.
Its business model resonated with deal-seeking customers and small merchants scarred by the Great Recession. Users waited each day for the company's emails to land in their inboxes, offering a deal from a local business that only kicked in once a certain number of vouchers was sold. Groupon hired a team of writers to rope people in with wit and sarcasm, and it offered incentives to users who spread the word to friends.
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