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by hammock 5473 days ago
Loopt seems like a democratized version of group purchase organizations (GPOs), which have been around forever and are used, for example, by groups of hospitals banding together to get bulk discounts on the things they regularly buy.

If you got ten of your friends together and put in bids on Loopt for a few different pizza places, it's not too different from the GPO process. You are basically saying, "I am willing to buy 10 pieces from you at this discounted rate." It makes me wonder if most of this talk about brand erosion etc is mostly alarmism.
1 comments
zem 5473 days ago
nope, mtkd nailed it when he cited the "passing off" laws. they're not just banding people together to get bulk discounts, they're implying that the businesses in question already support their model, and are using those businesses' brand recognition to add legitimacy to loopt.
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hammock 5473 days ago
It's more than banding together to get bulk discounts. Loopt is facilitating group buying - that's the "democratized" part of it.
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zem 5473 days ago
yes, but they're going about it dishonestly.
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