How they do it: Groupon’s customers typically pay for a voucher or coupon upfront directly to Groupon. This voucher or coupon can then be used to get a product or service with the merchant. Upon delivering the service or product, the business gets paid by Groupon.
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How they do it: Lufthansa flights are paid right away when they are booked, although the actual flight is in several days, weeks or months time. This allows the company to utilize the liquidity it gets from the prepayments and also finance their capital expensive operations (e.g. plane maitenance).
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How they do it: Amazon Web Services offers pricing for it’s computing pricing on an annual, pre-paid schedule. These so-called ”Reserved Instances” provide customers with a significant discount (up to 75%) compared to On-Demand instance pricing.
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How they do it: American Express developed the traveller’s cheque in 1891. It is a business model innovation based on the Cash Machine pattern. It emerged from the problem faced by American Express’ own employees who travelled abroad and had difficulty obtaining cash in a foreign country.
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