"Banks have always had access to vast transaction data but haven’t figured out how to monetize it yet." That's the foundation of the BankThink article, "Banks Can Eat Groupon's Lunch," which says that Groupon should be looking over its shoulder:
Groupon’s customer acquisition costs have been skyrocketing in the face of increasing competition. Between the first quarter of 2010 and the first quarter of 2011, the customer acquisition cost rose 485% to more than $30 per email address. If customer acquisition is getting so expensive for the leader in the space, it is easy to imagine how the smaller players are getting squeezed. Expect to see a number of quiet deaths among the newer, smaller deal-a-day players and a lot of consolidation among the modestly successful ones.
A bank, on the other hand, already has a large base of members and does not need to incur these acquisition costs. The customers are already engaged in a variety of rewards programs with these banks and a bank bringing new offers to its customers is not a big departure from the existing social contract.
Further, the banks can offer these deals through a variety of channels, including email, online banking, and ATMs. The ATM in particular is an underutilized marketing channel (if it is utilized at all) given that the bank has a captive customer and location information.
