This explains why Groupon & LivingSocial have roughly maintained their market shares: http://go.bloomberg.com/tech-blog/files/2012/08/livingsocial.jpg http://g

This explains why Groupon & LivingSocial have roughly maintained their market shares: http://go.bloomberg.com/tech-blog/files/2012/08/livingsocial.jpg http://go.bloomberg.com/tech-blog/files/2012/08/livingsocial... I think the primary reason for their "downfall" was not lack of barriers to entry (there were none at first, but once industry is established, there are as you mentioned), but a much smaller market overall. i.e., the "group coupon" model was very popular for a short time, much more so than its long term steady-state usage.