Groupon Shares Fall on Fears of Merchant Dropoff

Shares of Groupon dipped Tuesday after a survey projected that merchants intend to pull back with their affiliation with daily deals Web sites.

According to a survey of approximately 400 merchants who have worked with daily deal sites, 52 percent say they have no plans to feature deals in the next six months. Further, another 24 percent of merchants plan on featuring only one deal within the next six months. Daily deal tracking firm Yipit and Susquehanna Financial Group co-conducted the survey.

Shares of Groupon fell 6.5 percent to $19.29 in late Tuesday trading.

Shares of Groupon have been on a tumultuous ride ever since the Chicago-based company had its $20-a-share initial public offering in early November. The shares closed at $26.11 on the first day of trading but have since fallen as low as $14.85 over concerns that the company may have been overvalued and that customers may be showing daily deal fatigue.

Groupon is the largest daily deal site in terms of market value LivingSocial, based in Washington D.C., is in second place, according to Yipit. Groupon is also competing with giants such as Google and Amazon as they jump into the daily deal foray.

LivingSocial likely will hold off on an IPO in the near future, but it announced in December that it was raising an additional $400 million in a private offering.