????團購網站

????早在90年代末，團購網站就在美國遍地開花，其數量一點也不亞于Groupon引領的“百團大戰”時代。其中最出名的有Letsfuyit.com，在2001年放棄IPO計劃，隨后黯然倒閉的Mercata，以及Mobshop.com、ActBig、Zwirl.com、C-Tribe.com等大大小小的團購網站。美國在線和雅虎也曾計劃推出自己的團購網站。不過在“.com”泡沫破裂后，除Actbig.com之外，上述網站無一生存。

????到了2009年，Groupon又讓團購理念火了起來。很多人可能認為團購業務依然算是新生事物，就像我最近在一篇文章中指出的那樣。我的同事丹?普利馬克甚至稱，Groupon仍然是一家價值50億美元的公司。

????Group buying sites

????In the late '90s, group buying sites were just as common as they were in the Groupon era. This includes the most well-known, Letsbuyit.com, as well as Mercata, which scrapped its IPO plans in 2001 and shut down. Others include Mobshop.com, ActBig, Zwirl.com, and C-Tribe.com. AOL AOL 1.36% and Yahoo YHOO 1.42% had plans to launch their own group-buying sites, too. None of those companies survived the dotcom crash—except Actbig.com, apparently.

????In 2009, Groupon revived the concept. One could argue that the daily deals category remains a novelty, as I recently did in this article. My colleague Dan Primack recently counter-argued that Groupon is still a $5 billion company, which is not to be dismissed.