This summer, we launched personalization to bring you deals that better suit your interests. We weren’t about to stop there – today, we’re giving you a sneak peak of some new stuff that will bring you even more deals you love: Groupon Stores and the Deal Feed.
Groupon Stores
With Groupon Stores, businesses can now create and launch their own deals whenever they want. Think of it as the online equivalent of a merchant’s physical storefront. Merchants can now:
- Setup a permanent (and free!) e-commerce presence on Groupon for promoting their business.
- Create their own offers to run deals whenever they want.
- Submit deals to be promoted to Groupon subscribers through email and the Deal Feed (explained below).
- Get customers to follow their Groupon Store, and stay in touch by sending messages through the daily email and deal feed.
Each day we’ll select the best deals from Groupon Stores and match them to customers using our personalization technology. Follow any Store so you’ll never miss a deal from your favorite merchant.
The Deal Feed
To keep track of these extra deals, we created the Deal Feed. This is a new section of Groupon where a stream of deals – personalized for you – is updated throughout the day. Your deal feed includes your featured daily deal, deals posted by merchants you follow, and deals posted by merchants that we recommend based on what we know about you.
We’ll be adding tons to the Deal Feed over time, beginning with making it more social: you will be able to connect your feed to Facebook and receive updates on what your friends are doing, such as when your friends buy deals, follow a new merchant or comment on an offer. This will be another fun way to find great offers – or just keep on top of what your friends are up to.
Why we built it
We originally designed Groupon to account for the constraints of being a small company. Since we didn’t have any merchant relationships, we limited ourselves to one deal per day. Today things are different – our biggest problem is that demand is so high, merchants often wait months to be featured. And while we once only had a few thousand customers per city, now we have hundreds of thousands (Chicago just added its millionth subscriber!) – making it increasingly difficult to find one deal that satisfies everyone.
Personalization, Stores, and the Deal Feed are our attempt to re-imagine things. How would we have built Groupon if we started with hundreds of thousands of relationships with the best merchants in the world, millions of customers, and a world-wide operation with thousands of people helping merchants create deals? With these new features, we can feature more merchants and deliver a more relevant experience for customers, while maintaining the curated, serendipitous and simple experience that’s at the core of Groupon.
Coming soon to your city
We’ll start testing these features today in Chicago, Dallas, and Seattle, with plans to add more cities and functionality soon. If you’re in one of those markets, check out the link to the deal feed in your header and let us know what you think.
To learn more, please visit the FAQ pages for merchants and customers.
Sidian M.S. Jones
onDecember 1, 2010 2:56 am
I’ve never been so compelled to spend money and be happy about it. You guys work wonders on buyer’s remorse.
Hristina
onDecember 1, 2010 5:05 am
Can’t wait till it gets implemented everywhere!
Sarper Silaoglu
onDecember 1, 2010 5:26 am
congrats but, I’ve better idea:
Where, members will be able to earn money as they promote deals,
and members will be able to trace their friends activities and be inspired,
and members will be able to create events and invite people,
and I wont be sending bulk emails, all the mails will be sent by friends or merchant’s representatives…
and something which is fully integrated with Faceboook…
I’ll show you off soon.
cheers, Sarper
Susan Jacobs
onDecember 1, 2010 10:34 am
Brilliant! Hats off for supporting local businesses and for keeping the public interesting in supporting them as well! In tough economic times, systems like Groupon make it possible to make a purchase with a smile again! Love GROUPON!!!!
Alison
onDecember 1, 2010 11:14 am
Can’t wait for these features to come to Phoenix. Will the Deal Feed be able to show different cities at once?? I would love to be able to see all my Phoenix, Las Vegas, and San Diego deals in one place without having to toggle between cities!
D. F.
onDecember 1, 2010 11:54 am
Start it for Indy too please
David
onDecember 1, 2010 12:37 pm
As a publisher, I read news about personalization of deals as a monetization opportunity that can provide real value for readers, which is an area where most existing advertising fails badly. Are there plans (or existing features I’m missing) to push distribution of personalized deals at a level beyond the standard Groupon Adsense image ad that we’re all familiar with by now?
Sheila
onDecember 1, 2010 2:28 pm
Hello, I often give away coupons for use in ordering a wedding gown. Sometimes it’s as much at $150. I have asked to be in the Goupon deals but never received a response. Now I can use this feature. Thanks Dolce Vita Bridal Shop Louisville, Ky. 40206
adspedia
onDecember 1, 2010 2:43 pm
Any plans to launch in Europe too?
Fiona K
onDecember 1, 2010 8:08 pm
Hi there,
Just wondering if you have a timeline you can share on when groupon stores &the deal feed will be available for the toronto market? pre- 2011, or in the new year?
Thx, Fiona
bob
onDecember 1, 2010 9:02 pm
how do i open a Groupon Store?
nevermind
onDecember 1, 2010 9:08 pm
the beauty of groupon is in its simplicity…now comes the beast of information overload…over feed an animal and it dies an early death…
Maggie Froncek
onDecember 2, 2010 9:02 am
I have enjoyed Groupon and use the deals frequently. I was saddened, however, to hear that it has been sold to Google (or anyone, for that matter). Yes, I do understand that the amount of money was hard to pass up. I fear the result will be turning it into”big business” and the personalization and fun aspect of it will be lost. At that point I will say farewell. But until then, I will hang in there and continue to enjoy it!
Maggie
Al Mason
onDecember 2, 2010 5:16 pm
Groupon should just buy pulsd…..
jack underwood
onDecember 7, 2010 4:29 am
Can I be part of this great idea and buy into or be hired to help develop your business in my area? Looks like a big step into the future for business and customers. Please respond. Thank you. J. Underwood. 931-540-0506.
prefabrik
onDecember 7, 2010 5:21 am
This will be another fun way to find great offers
Kam
onDecember 10, 2010 3:44 pm
How can I add my business to your system??