Groupon Now Gives Deals a Facelift

As late as the 1990s, deal hunting was an arduous task. Anyone wanting great deals was required to perform a large amount of work, poring over newspapers for special advertisements and coupons, store hopping in search of sales and discounts. Mailing lists allowed consumers to receive advance notice of sales from their favorite stores or manufacturers and would often include special offers and coupons on select items. When the Internet became popular, people began sharing information on deals with one another and sites began popping up that alerted users to sales and discounts. Eventually coupon sites were created with some offering coupons only for purchases made online and others allowing users to print out coupons for use in brick-and-mortar stores. People started getting used to using the Internet as a tool for finding great deals from their favorite businesses. Then Groupon came along and revolutionized the world of couponing. The service, initially only offered in Chicago, worked with businesses–usually small businesses–to offer extensive discounts on a single product or service, with one deal being available each day. However, that deal would only become available after a certain number of consumers signed up for it, guaranteeing Groupon’s partner enough business to legitimize their deal offering. Businesses participated in order to have their stores recognized by larger groups of people in the hopes of gaining returning customers from the groups of bargain hunters. The daily deals niche, created by Groupon, has been turned on its head by a new service from Groupon: Groupon Now.
With many companies, including Google, trying to get a pice of the daily deal pie, Groupon has had to innovate even further in the space it helped to create. It’s no longer enough to offer a new deal every day, with Google Offers and LivingSocial performing the same tasks Groupon has had to branch out. And branch out it has. Groupon Now offers several discounts each day in each city, using location data from customers’ smartphones to help them find deals near them. Boiled down to two main choices, “I’m Hungry” or “I’m Bored”, the service provides a fast, user-friendly way to find discounts on food and entertainment that’s easily accessible. Though it isn’t available in every city yet, Groupon is hard at work expanding its service. If the deal company wants to remain the king of the daily deal category, it will have to constantly research and create new methods of brining great value to its customers.