The Groupon mechanic creates economies of scale that justify deals from extant companies hat wouldn't make sense without the deal existing...

1a. What if you took it one step further, and used this mechanic for incubating businesses that wouldn't otherwise have the funds to bootstrap?

1b. Or for justifying a return to production or a custom run of products that had been discontinued?  If 1000 Lego enthusiasts got together and offered to purchase a part that was discontinued in 1985, could you make it worth Lego's while to do a run of that part?

1c. Or to overcome a marketing driven scarcity? Disney artificially drums up demand by releasing The Little Mermaid on DVD only every few years. If 10000 people offered to spend $29.95, could you convince them to put out a limited run now, with enough of a barrier to entry (getting 10,000 people together) that their artificial scarcity model isn't threatened?

On the one hand these tend to be more vertical, niche oriented programs, but that's not necessarily bad, and they have the potential to create much more interesting outcomes than, say, $25 off at the Gap.