Tag: Deals

The Deals Space: It’s Easy to Start, But Not to Grow

Back in June, Mary Song, CEO of Yuupon, gave WebProNews the following predictions for the deals space:

1. Facebook Deals will not be a major contender as is. Why? Facebook Deals is a self-serve platform and like ad-words is unlikely to be directly adopted by merchants. Instead, it will likely foster a community of agencies that help companies get their deals on Facebook. Currently lacks mass to make this happen.

2. The daily deals space will mature and the flexibility that merchants may see today will disappear or become commoditized. Why? Daily deals / flash deals are still in infancy and a lot of trial and error/learning is still taking place. As the space matures a lot of this will be figured out and will become much more cookie cutter. This works, this doesn’t, want to run a deal? Here are the parameters… The early adopters will get to play a role in shaping how flash deals operate.

3. Major shift to mobile delivery and fulfillment – where we’ll no longer need to use paper vouchers. Why? Let’s face it, printing a paper voucher and bringing it with you seems so 1990, the larger sites already offer some mobile delivery and fulfillment – expect to see major developments on the mobile front. Instant and Now are two examples.

4. More partnerships between players – Ebay is already in the daily deal space, and with their acquisition of Where, they made a strong move into the mobile hyperlocal space; however they are going to make a major move into the local deals space with their acquisition of Magento ecommerce software.

We may see some additional acquisitions from Ebay.

5. Groupon Getaways/Expedia is not a slam dunk but does validate the travel voucher model. Existing issues between OTAs, bait and switch with deal pricing, etc… may stand in the way of being the dominant player in the travel deal vertical.

6. Multiple players will exist and thrive in flash travel ddeal vertical – possibly as many as ten.

Now, Facebook has already announced that it is shutting down its Deals product (though its Check-in deals will remain). Number one has already come true.

“Facebook deals relied heavily on inbound sales which even for someone with as large a user base as Facebook that clearly missed the mark,” Song tells WebProNews now. “Daily deals are not as easy to source as Groupon and LivingSocial make it appear. Additionally Facebook users belong to Facebook primarily to keep in touch with friends and family, people didn’t join Facebook to receive marketing messages. There are so many deals available today that people opt to receive that getting them to dig to find Facebook deals is easy to see in hindsight was not a winning strategy.”

Song does think Facebook’s Check-in Deals will be successful as time goes on.

“This is quite different as it allows merchants to engage consumers while they are on property for example a hotel could offer 2 for 1 drinks in the bar shortly after someone checks into the hotel or make a game of it with rewards for the most checkins during a stay (for destination resorts) rewarding guests for using the spa, restaurant or other services with discounts on future stays or discounts on additional services during their current stay.”

“Hyper local or deals near me will play a large role in the deals space however I think as the deals space matures it will be one of many offerings that merchants can choose,” she adds.

As previously reported, Hitwise finds that Groupon traffic is down and LivingSocial traffic is up.

“There has been a lot of speculation about this – Groupon and LivingSocial have very different selling methods – Groupon is primarily call center and LivingSocial is primarily boots on the street,” says Song. “No doubt about it when you are in a market you definitely will know your market better and which merchants to work with and which ones to steer clear of perhaps allowing Livingsocial to provide a better user experience overall and a more loyal following.”

“It could also be a result of a shift of spending marketing dollars. Livingsocial has been perhaps marketing more aggressively or creatively,” she adds. “Groupon as the 800 lb gorilla has gotten beaten up quite a bit by the media and stumbled with it’s Super Bowl ad whereas Livingsocial has TV ads that are still running and is probably enjoying benefits of it’s relationship with Amazon that may not be available to Groupon.”

When asked if Groupon be worried, Song simply says, “No.”

“While it’s easy to get into the daily deal marketplace it’s much harder to grow and sustain a daily deal business,” Song tells us. “At this point if you don’t already have a subscriber base and a marketing arm you’re better off partnering with an existing daily deal site rather than try and enter the fray.”

And I’ll leave you with that.

August 31, 2011
Yelp Cuts Back On Daily Deals, Great Timing for Groupon

It’s an interesting time for the daily deals space. As previously reported, Facebook, which may assumed would be a major player, has decided to fold its deals product, though the company is keeping around check-in deals.

Yelp, another popular service is also scaling back in the deals department. It has been reported that Yelp cut half of its Deals staff this week, after launching Yelp Deals last year. It’s not pulling the plug on Deals entirely, but the company has cut a reported 15 positions related to Deals.

Google is still expected to be a major player in the space, especially now that it has Google+ to help it (as if it needed that, given all of its other products), but Google Offers has yet to launch in too many markets.

Experian Hitwise reported this week that Groupon’s traffic this summer has been down by 50%, while its main rival LivingSocial’s traffic has gone up by 27%. Perhaps a little less focus on deals from competitors is exactly what Groupon needs right now in the road up to its IPO.

Kara Swisher has an interesting piece talking about employee morale being low at Groupon, thanks to negative press the company has been getting. She reports:

“It’s made it very difficult for those working at Groupon,” said one source. “But, worse, is how much our reputation is getting burned in the eyes of young engineers we need to recruit.”

What management at the company does not seem to be as worried about, said sources, is investor disinterest when it comes time to hawk and price the public offering.

Morale from CEO Andrew Mason doesn’t seem that it has been so bad, however. In a leaked memo (also originally obtained by Swisher), Mason told employees, “…the degree to which we’re getting the shit kicked out of us in the press had finally crossed the threshold from “annoying” to “hilarious.” Second, I was struck by the irony — I had just finished a board meeting last Wednesday saying this to myself: I’ve never been more confident and excited about the future of our business.”

Groupon has been an inspirational business to say the least. The company has inspired countless knock-offs, copycats, and other somewhat original ideas based on the daily deals concept – from niche versions to aggregation sites, and of course entries into the market from Internet giants.

It’s going to be very interesting to see how the market treats Groupon as public company, but also how the competition holds up.

August 30, 2011
Facebook Shuts Down “Deals,” Keeps More Relevant Check-In Deals
Facebook has had a couple of “deals” products: “Deals” and “Check-in Deals.” Deals are going away, but Check-in Deals are staying.

Facebook gave us the following statement: “After testing Deals for four months, we’ve decided to end our Deals product in the coming weeks. We think there is a lot of power in a social approach to driving people into local businesses. We remain committed to building products to help local businesses connect with people, like Ads, Pages, Sponsored Stories, and Check-in Deals. We’ve learned a lot from our test and we’ll continue to evaluate how to best serve local businesses.”

Much of the commentary around this move is painting it as one less competitor for Groupon, and perhaps that is the case as far as “daily deals”. But as far as where local businesses are spending their ad dollars, I would hardly say Facebook has any less an edge because of this.

For one, you have to consider that the the daily deals and check-in spaces are becoming much more integrated with one another, and appear to be essentially merging. Facebook probably doesn’t need a traditional Groupon-type version of deals. Facebook users don’t necessarily need a daily email about a businesses they may or may not care about. The check-in deal, where users can check-in to a store they’re already at for a deal is likely more appealing to more users, and these deals are more likely to consistently be taken advantage of by users.

It’s not as if Groupon and its other competitors don’t know this. You may recall a recently announced partnership between Groupon and Foursquare.

Facebook already offers some very good targeting options and an enormous user base that is irresistible to advertisers. They even continue to improve on the targeting. They also recently opened up the Ads API, so you can expect third-parties to do some even more interesting things with Facebook advertising.

Meanwhile, in the deals space itself, Groupon is down 50% while LivingSocial is up 27% in traffic this summer, according to new numbers from Exerpiean Hitwise. Here are some highlights of the firm’s more recent findings in this area:
August 29, 2011
Amazon Local Expanded Into More Markets
Amazon announced the launch of Amazon Local in in new markets, including New York City today. NYC is obviously a major market for the online retail giant’s daily deals offering.

The service originally launched in Boise in early June. Two months later, it launched on Groupon’s home turf in Chicago. Now NYC, Austin, Charlotte, Chicago’s northwest suburbs, Northern Virginia, Orlando and the San Francisco Peninsula.

@AmazonLocal
AmazonLocalHello, NYC, Austin, Charlotte, Chicago’s northwest suburbs, Northern Virginia, Orlando & the San Francisco Peninsula! http://t.co/NOqsYzK 4 hours ago via Social Manager Publisher · powered by @socialditto

“Since our initial launch in Boise in June, AmazonLocal has rapidly expanded to 30 distinct locations in 10 states. Whether it’s an amazing deal on local services or, in the coming months, on Amazon.com, MYHABIT.com and endless.com, AmazonLocal customers can expect to find significant savings every day,” said Mike George, vice president of AmazonLocal. “In New York, there’s no better way to truly understand the Big Apple than by getting the best deals the city has to offer.”

Amazon says NYC customers can expect deals like:
- 50% off tickets to Cirque du Soleil’s newest show, Zarkana, in Midtown
- $50 for $100 at Uskudar Turkish Restaurant in Uptown
- $13 for $27 worth of cupcakes at Brooklyn Cupcake
- 74% off one month of unlimited hot yoga classes at Bikram Yoga Harlem
- $15 for $30 worth of groceries at any Upper East Side Gristedes
Amazon is also including deals from affiliated sites, such as: $25 for $50 to spend on jewelry and watches at Amazon.com, $40 for $80 to spend at MYHABIT.com and $25 for $50 to spend at 6pm.com.

Customers that use Amazon Rewards Visa cards will earn five points for each dollar spent on AmazonLocal in 2011.
August 25, 2011
Obtiva Acquired by Groupon

Groupon announced today that it has acquired Obtiva, a Ruby on Rails software development firm from Groupon’s hometown of Chicago.

“We’ve been working side-by-side with our Obtiva colleagues since way back in 2009, when Groupon had a handful of engineers,” says Julie M. on the Groupon Blog. “Today, many of our 600W development teams have Obtivians on them (and several are led by Obtivians.) We decided to stop living in sin and tie the knot.”

“We’re constantly impressed by how capable Obtiva developers are and we’re really looking forward to expanding the team,” she adds, adding that Groupon is also looking to hire engineers.

@Obtiva
Obtiva CorporationIt’s OFFICIAL – @Groupon has Acquired @Obtiva http://ow.ly/5Vrk8 22 minutes ago via HootSuite · powered by @socialditto

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Apart from being considered the “fastest growing company ever,” Groupon has been very busy lately. In addition to recently filing for its IPO (which has been pushed back as the SEC reviews the company’s accounting practices), Groupon has also acquired Pelago, makers of the Whrrl check-in app, launched Groupon Now, partnered with Loopt and Foursquare for Groupon Now, and partnered with Expedia.

August 4, 2011
Amazon Local Heads to Groupon’s Home Turf

Two months ago, Amazon launched its Daily Deals offering Amazon Local in Boise, Idaho. Since then, it has expanded to include a handful of regions in California, Florida and Washington. The offering is attracting some attention in the press now because it has also expanded into Chicago.

Why is this significant? Because that would be Groupon’s home turf, and the thinking is that direct competition from a powerhouse and trusted brand such as Amazon could be a major thorn in the company’s side.

Another line of thinking, however, would be that there’s plenty of room for a lot of deals providers to thrive. People like to save money, after all, and many are likely to use a variety of providers. There are already a lot of different options out there, and they don’t seem to be having too much trouble attracting advertisers.

@AmazonLocal
AmazonLocalGet ready for more great local deals–AmazonLocal is expanding. Stay tuned! http://bit.ly/jnKnCT 7 days ago via Social Manager Publisher · powered by @socialditto

The Wall Street Journal reports: “For now, sales people from LivingSocial — a Groupon rival in which Amazon has an investment — are roping in the merchants for the Amazon local-deals offering. But Amazon said it has hired its own sales team for a standalone daily-deals offering planned for the latter part of this year.”

Amazon is quoted as saying: “Customers already know and trust Amazon.com for their online purchases, and now with Amazon Local, they can also find great deals right in their own city. AmazonLocal is a great way for residents of the Windy City to enjoy the restaurants, spas, and activities in their backyard.”

Groupon filed for its IPO right around the time Amazon Local launched in Boise. It has been pushed back, however, pending an SEC review of the company’s accounting practices.

Last week, Groupon and Foursquare announced Groupon Now for the popular check-in service.

August 2, 2011
TheDealMap Acquired By Google

Google has acquired deals aggregation service TheDealMap for an undisclosed sum.

The company claims to have over 2 million users for its branded mobile, web, social and email products, a million Android/iPhone mobile installs, and 85 million monthly visitors to its DealExchange distribution network.

It counts over 50 companies as commercial distribution partners, including Microsoft’s Bing, CityGrid, Local.com, MerchantCircle, MyPoints, Savings.com, SuperMedia, and T-Mobile It has over 150 affiliate agreements with local and daily deal providers. Over 500 developers are taking advantage of its DealExchange API.

In a post on TheDealMap’s blog, the team writes:

We believe Google provides the ideal platform to help us accelerate our growth and fulfill our mission. We’re passionate about helping people save money while having great local experiences, and in Google we’ve found the perfect partner that shares this passion, as well as our vision and strategy. We believe that joining Google will help us innovate in new and unexplored areas of commerce.

For the time being, we will continue to support The Dealmap’s core products and partner services. People will still be able to access local and daily deals through The Dealmap website, mobile apps, and daily email, and we’ll continue supporting The Dealmap API and feeds for existing sourcing and distribution partners. As we’re ready to share more about integration and transition plans, we’ll update our partners and consumers on progress and any news.

@TheDealmap
The DealmapDeal of the Day: Google Acquires The Dealmap http://t.co/b6WxzZ5 44 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

TheDealMap says it makes over 400,000 local and daily deals available each day from over 450 unique sources, adding up to $10 million in savings available each day.

Google of course launched its own deal service earlier this year with Google Offers, which is only available in a few markets thus far. Google also launched Google+, its new social network, which should be quite helpful in pushing any of its other services.

It’s unclear just what Google has planned for TheDealMap so far, but it’s not hard to think of a variety of scenarios, some of which might involve Place Pages and/or the upcoming brand profiles on Google+.

August 1, 2011
Groupon Now Comes to Foursquare

Groupon and Foursquare have teamed up to bring Groupon Now deals to Foursquare users. It’s been known that the two companies were working together, but now users (and businesses) can reap the benefits.

“Groupon Now!, our real-time deal platform, continues to launch across the country – we’re up to 25 markets! – and we’ve heard from lots of you that Now! is your favorite new way to cure boredom,” Julie M. tells users on the Groupon blog. “Thanks again for updating your app and giving the service a try. Our product innovations are largely sparked by feedback from our customers and merchants; this was a marriage of both that is more than just changing the way people shop…it’s becoming an addiction.”

“As you get out and explore your city, just peruse participating Groupon merchants on foursquare, from lunch spots to live events, and purchase your Now! deal to apply immediately to your purchase,” she says. “Groupon Now! features the same high quality merchants you’ve come to expect from us, and we have thousands lined up in each Now! city ready to celebrate your foursquare addiction.”

@tristanwalker
tristan walkerCat’s outta the bag! RT @julie_mo Find Groupon Now! Deals on @foursquare – The Serious Blog of Groupon http://t.co/rK5YeAI (more deals!) 55 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

Foursquare is not the first check-in service to utilize Groupon Now. Loopt announced it was working with Groupon on Groupon Now alerts back in May. Foursquare, however, is kind of the poster child for the check-in app space, so this new deal could really help Groupon push its Groupon Now service.

Foursquare announced last month that it had surpassed the 10 million user mark. Groupon recently filed for its IPO, but it’s being held up by further review over accounting practices by the SEC.

July 29, 2011
Google to Integrate Google Offers with Google Wallet and Google+

Sooner or later, you’re probably going to see many of Google’s new products much more heavily integrated with other existing Google products, as well as with each other. Google+ is already integrated with Google properties by the simple fact that it appears in a navigation bar across many of them (although I’m still wondering about its absence from YouTube).

The Gmail team is actively looking to get it integrated with Gmail in new and useful ways. As our CEO Rich Ord pointed out in a Google+ post, Googlers have been heavily emphasizing its potential for businesses.

Expect integration of Google Offers, Google+ and Google Wallet. Words from Google today indicate that they’ll all be meeting one another in the future.

Stephanie Tilenius, VP of Google Commerce is quoted as saying at the MobileBeat conference, “One of the things we are going to do with Google Offers and Google Wallet is embed them in our products. So our new Google+ product, we’re going to have it there, search and apps. The goal is to…think about Google Maps, with 200 million mobile users. If you’re living [in] an area, we’re going to find offers. We’ll work with all of our Google properties, they will be integrated, but it will take some time to get there.”

If Google is looking to dominate so many spaces (search, advertising, offers, social, payments, etc.) it makes a great deal of sense that they tie products to one another in any way that is usable. Google+‘s user base is growing rapidly (based on estimates and reports), but those Google accounts in general are numbered way, way higher. Think about every person that uses Google+, Gmail, Google Docs, YouTube, etc. with an account. Any one of these people is a potential user of one of of the other services for the simple fact that they already have an account.

Even if you don’t have a Google+ account yet, in some ways you really do. You just don’t have the features activated. The account is the Google account. The ID. With Google also providing the gateway to the web for a lot of people (and growing) via Chrome, Android, and Chrome OS, the potential for pushing its services and the simple convenience factor of using them both increase as well.

I think I’ve said at some point before, that it’s almost as if Google itself (for the sake of comparing with Facebook) is the real social network, and all of these different products are just features.

July 13, 2011
Today in Deals: Foursquare and Google

There are a couple noteworthy bits of news coming out this morning regarding the deals space.

Foursquare announced that Foursquare Specials will no include “deals” from partners LivingSocial, Gilt City, Zozi, BuyWithMe, and AT&T Interactive.

“We help you discover the deals that are right for you,” Foursquare says on the company blog. “We now run all Specials through our personalized Explore tab. As a result, you only see Specials that are right for you, and you also see why they’re right for you (for instance, if two of your friends have been there).”

“If you’re walking around and see a Special you like, a couple taps in your app and you’ll be able to buy it, all without leaving foursquare,” the company adds. “And if you find a good Special while browsing on foursquare.com, you can buy it there, too.”

Foursquares deals are available for iPhone, Android and Blackberry in the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The company also says it will be featuring more types of deals in the coming months.

Google announced today that it is launching the Google Offers beta in New York City and the Bay Area. It was previously only available in Portland, so this marks the first expansion of the service, which the company hopes will be able to take on Groupon and LivingSocial head on. Coupled with the Google+ and Google’s numerous other products (like search, advertising, and place pages) I’d say its chances or doing so are pretty good.

Users can buy, view and redeem a Google Offer of the day with Google Shopper 2.0 for Android now. Purchased offers will appear in a “my offers” tab.

“Shopper will also connect you to all kinds of deals that are near you in the Nearby Offers tab, so wherever you are, you can still get great offers from Google even if you haven’t signed up for the daily deals in Portland, New York and the San Francisco Bay Area,” says Eric Rosenblum, Product Management Director for Google Offers.

July 12, 2011
Is Groupon Losing its Edge?

It’s well known that the daily deals space is getting more and more competitive. It seems that nearly every other day a new service related to this industry is being announced. LivingSocial, who has been doing a whole lot of TV advertising these days has been consistently named as Groupon’s closest competitor.

A report today from Bloomberg BusinessWeek, citing data from Yipit, indicates that Groupon’s share is slipping as LivingSocial’s is gaining. It says that Groupon’s share has slipped to 48% (in May) from 52% in April, while LivingSocial’s share has risen from 20% in April to 24% in May.

Even Yipit itself said in a blog post earlier this month, “The reports of Groupon’s death are greatly exaggerated.”

That may be. Groupon is far from dead, but there’s no question the competition is only going to get fiercer. Google Offers (launched after Groupon turned down a buyout offer from Google) hasn’t even launched beyond its first city yet. Now, Google has a brand new social network to help it potentially get deals out in new ways (to compliment its other existing products). When Google Offers goes live on a mass scale in markets everywhere, it will be very interesting to see where Groupon, LivingSocial, and all of the other competitors stand.

If there’s one thing (besides search) that Google has been able to do right, it’s advertising. In fact, a new report from IgntionOne just came out showing Google as the “standout performer” in online advertising, while Facebook ads get more popular. Guess who just announced its own Facebook competitor, not to mention the mass roll-out of interest-based advertising to all advertisers.

In other Groupon news, Risky.biz has reported that the entire user database of Groupon’s Indian subidiary Sosasta.com was accidentally published to the web and indexed by Google. This included the email addresses and passwordds of 300,000 users, according to the report. Groupon reportedly said in a statement:

After being alerted to this issue by an information security expert, we corrected the problem immediately. We have begun notifying our subscribers and advising them to change their Sosasta passwords as soon as possible. We will keep our Indian subscribers fully informed as we learn more.

Sosasta runs on its own platform and servers, and is not connected to Groupon sites in other countries.

June 29, 2011
Report: Groupon More Popular by 2 to 1 Margin Over LivingSocial

ForeSee Results released some interesting data regarding he effectiveness of Groupon, Living Social and other “daily deal” programs. The firm conducted a study of over 22,000 online shoppers in the spring, and one subject they explored was the whole daily deal phenomenon, whether or not they brought in new customers, and these services compare with one another.

Highlights of the findings include:
Groupon is the most popular daily deal site by a 2 to 1 margin over the next competitor, Living Social (51% of respondents vs. 24%)
47% of Groupon subscribers bought a daily deal, compared to 22% for Living Social and 12% for Google Offers
Nearly a third of those redeeming daily deals were new customers. 27% were infrequent customers, while 38% were frequent customers.

ForeSee findings about deals

ForeSee says the main takeaways is: “Daily deals are an effective means to growing your customer base, and Groupon is the best of the bunch so far.”

The report also included some demographic information. Of Groupon subscribers, 9% are 18-24, 50% are 25-44, 35% are 45-64, and 5% are 65+ according to ForeSee. For LivingSocial, 11% are 18-24, 60% are 25-44, 26% are 45-64, and 3% are 65+. It has Groupon with 37% male and 62% female, and LivingSocial with 36% maile and 63% female. I assume the missing percentages were those who chose not to disclose.

June 25, 2011

Twitter Mulling Entry Into Deals Space?

Twitter is reportedly looking into some new types of advertising. The Financial Times cites “people with direct knowledge of its plans” as saying that Twitter is looking at some bold new options.

One option would be injecting Promoted Tweets into the user’s main timeline. While plenty of people would no doubt freak out about this (not unlike the whole “dickbar” fiasco), I can’t say it would affect me much, as my Twitter use rarely relies on the main timeline, but through the use of lists. I’m sure I’m hardly alone in this, though the main timeline is certainly going to be the main access point for the majority of new users – a number which Twitter has been aggressively trying to bolster.

While it is the possibility of Twitter adding promoted tweets to the main timeline that is the focal point of the FT article, another bit caught my attention more:

Other commercial options under discussion include deals and offers similar in style to rival Groupon, which aggregates consumer demand for time-limited specific offers. It is also looking at introducing enhanced profile pages for brands and media management tools, which could allow advertisers to pre-schedule 140-character posts.

Ok, even more specifically, that part about a deals service that would rival Groupon. Why not? Everyone else is doing it. It would only make sense that Twitter, which is struggling in the revenue department compared to its peers, and has its location-sharing feature in Twitter Places that could help aid such an endeavor. It also has users’ email addresses, which is generally the primary way deals services reach consumers.

If Twitter wants to play with the big boys (like Facebook and Google), and it should, as it is set to become the main identity point for a lot of iPhone and iPad users with the pending release of Apple’s iOS 5, it almost has to get into the Deals space. The fact that co-founder Jack Dorsey also runs Square, should also help in cultivating relationships with merchants.

It’s worth noting that this wouldn’t be the first endeavor into daily deals for Twitter. You may recall the short-lived @earlybird thing, but under new direction from Dorsey, things may be different now.

Foursquare and American Express Launch Specials for Cardholders

Back in March, just before SXSW, Foursquare announced a partnership with American Express that would see card users getting discounts, by checking in at stores, restaurants, etc. They began testing in Austin, where those who linked their AmEx and Foursquare accounts could spend at least $5 at a local merchant, and get a $5 savings applied to their monthly statement.

“When we launched, the response was overwhelmingly positive. So, after SxSW, we sat down with American Express to plot the future,” writes Foursquare Director of Business Development Tristan Walker on the Foursquare blog. “Today, we’re happy to announce that the partnership is going national. Across the whole country, at select merchants, you can now check-in with foursquare, pay with your American Express card, and get big savings on your monthly statement.”

“Our national launch with foursquare reflects our continued focus on digital innovation aimed at bringing value to cardmembers and merchants where they’re already engaged and focused,” says Ed Gilligan, Vice Chairman at American Express. “The success of our pilot just a few months ago proved that American Express’ digital capabilities and foursquare’s expanding application created something extremely powerful. We’re thrilled to take this partnership to the next level. For us, this is just the beginning.”

“Partnering with American Express to offer Specials to their millions of cardmembers on a nationwide basis not only allows us to provide a completely seamless redemption experience to both users and merchants, it also enables merchants to really measure the success of their offline marketing efforts with foursquare,” said Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley. “The load-to-card functionality of the Smart Offer APIs provides the millions of American Express merchants with an effortless way to serve up Specials to our more than 10 million users.”

At SXSW, we interviewed Foursquare Director of Business Development Eric Friedman, who talked about the partnership a bit (while Crowley played an actual game of Foursquare in the background):

@EricFriedman
Eric FriedmanRT @AmericanExpress Amex and @foursquare go national! Sync, explore, save… GET STARTED NOW at http://aexp.co/ZU2 10 hours ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

@naveen
naveenshock-and-awe week is back: @foursquare and @americanexpress teaming up for specials again, this time nationwide: http://t.co/bxDH9nJ 9 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

@AmericanExpress
American ExpressCardmembers nationwide can now sync their Amex cards w/ @foursquare to unlock exclusive specials! http://aexp.co/AgO 1 hour ago via Amex Publisher · powered by @socialditto

Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley retweeted this:

@stanmichaelbash
Stan BashmashnikovWelp, looks like I’ve made a decision for my secondary credit card! – “AMEX Teams With Foursquare” – http://t.co/kfAsujk cc: @dens @naveen 9 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

To take advantage, simply link your accounts, check in at participating stores and tap “load to card” on the Special in Foursquare, and pay with your AmEx card. They’re kicking off the launch with stores H&M (where you can spend $75 and get $10 back) and Sports Authority (where you can spend $50 and get $20 back). On the Foursquare blog, they also talk about several New York restaurants who are already offering specials.

Earlier this week, Foursquare announced that it’s surpassed 10 million users.

Loopt u-Deals Lets You Create Your Own Deals for Local Businesses

Loopt has an interesting new spin on the hot deals space. The company has announced a product called U-Deals, which essentially gets the consumer (You, or “U” – get it?) to create the deal, including the discount, and then use Loopt to try to get the business to turn the deal into a reality. Intriguing concept. It will be interesting to see if it’s successful.

“Loopt u-Deals are for great for people who have been craving a deal at their favorite local place or somewhere they’ve wanted to try,” a Loopt representative tells WebProNews. “It’s also a strong deal alternative for the construction worker getting manicure deals or the vegetarian receiving steakhouse deals.”

Loopt says there are three basic steps:

1. Request a deal.

2. Share your requested deal with as many people as you can (email, Twitter, Facebook, the works) and get them to sign up for the deal.

3. Loopt will contact the business and try to make it happen. If the business approves, you all get the deal and some u-Deals will remain open for purchase.

Anyone can purchase an approved u-Deal, the company says.

“Loopt u-Deals are truly a team effort – deal creators, their friends and family, Loopt, and local merchants all come together to make them happen,” said Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO, Loopt. “If we can continue to make local business connections simple, fun and rewarding for mobile users, we’ll start to see much stronger social ties within local communities nationwide.”

Watch our recent interview with Altman here:

Loopt is working with group-buying platform ChompOn to process the u-Deals purchases.

The U-Deals are starting in the San Francisco Bay area, and at launch, Loopt’s Android app will have u-Deals and the ability to request a deal. The functionality will also soon come to the iPhone.

Loopt Sees iOS 5 Notifications As Huge for Daily Deals Space

Users of iOS devices are anticipating the release of iOS 5 later this year for a number of reasons. One of these reasons is the way it handles notifications. Rather than the screen takeover, notifications will be more subtle, appearing at the top of the screen, much like Android.

Sam Altman, CEO and co-founder of Loopt, “strongly believes” that no mobile service will see a bigger benefit from this aspect of the iOS update than those offering deals. He shared some thought on this with WebProNews.

Loopt says being able to surface deals in an unobtrusive (but easily accessible) way is huge, as deals that don’t interrupt but are available for you to see at all times will be much more attractive to mobile users (both for current and incoming smartphone users). Altman thinks we’ll see a lot more users opting in to deal notifications as a result.

“We’re finally reaching a place with mobile technology where we can actually bring super-relevant, limited-time deals to consumers when they’re near the deal location,” he tells us. “With mobile notifications, instant deal gratification is possible. We’ve been sending location-relevant deals/rewards through Loopt since March, and we were really excited to incorporate Groupon Now! deals into our offering more recently. Consumers love the surprise and delight of discovering a deal without having to proactively look for it. There’s a lot of potential in this.”

He’s referring to a partnership Loopt and Groupon launched last month. Here’s our interview with Altman about that:

On why the deals space will benefit more than other spaces from this iOS update, Altman says, “Everyone loves a good deal, but not everyone wants a screen-filling message when there’s a deal around. I think we’ll see more people opting in (and staying opted in) to non-intrusive alerts. More notifications sent equates to more traffic to the deal services and ultimately more people coming through the doors of local businesses.”

“We might see more levels of notification, with apps tiering out notification priority and frequency so the user can decide,” he adds, referring to the industry at large.

He says Android has “absolutely” provided a glimpse of what players can do on a wider scale, once the iOS update rolls out. “Android’s notifications are similar, we’re excited to see this kind of implementation on iPhone,” he says.

Apple calls iOS 5 “the most extensive software update ever for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.” It has over 200 new features and gives devices access to the company’s iCloud service. The notifications feature comes with a “notifications center,” which Apple has touted as one of the “key” features. It aggregates all notifications, and can be accessed by simply swiping down from the top of the screen. It also shows stocks and weather at the top of the screen, and will display a little pop up at the top to let you know about a notification while you’re watching a video or playing a game.

More to Google Offers Than Meets the Eye?

Let me take you back to the beginning of the year for a minute. Groupon had recently turned down a buyout offer from Google reported at around $6 billion. Everyone was wondering what Google’s next move was going to be. Clearly they were interested in entering the Groupon/daily deals space. It was highly unlikely that Google was just going to give up on these aspirations because Groupon turned them down.

Google’s Marissa Mayer did an interview with Media Beat, reminding us that Google already had some things that could compete with Groupon, and with the right integration and implementation of products, could be a viable player in the space.

“I think that when you look at our overall suite of services, especially around our advertising, we already have some things that are like this,” Mayer said. “We have things like coupons and offer extension ads that allow merchants to basically make offers to our users. So we’re looking at how we can take that technology and put it to use, especially in the location space.”

Here’s the full interview:

Fast forward a bit, and Google officially launched its first Google Offers deals in Portland at the beginning of this month. The product is, for all intents and purposes, essentially a Groupon clone. While some may have dismissed Google’s entry into this space as just that, now comes an interesting discovery by Search Engine Land’s Greg Sterling, which seems to fall more in line with a broader vision, and with Mayer’s discussion.

Sterling happened across a Google “offer ad” in the wild (which has been known to be in testing), but when he clicked “view offer,” he was taken to an offer page with a button for “save to My Offers,” that when clicked takes you to a “My Offers” dashboard, which he describes as a “repository for several deal types that Google appears to have up its sleeve”.

So, all of these Google-based offers would appear in the same place in your Google account, making for an easy way to access them, which could be huge for user engagement.

In addition, the concept would seemingly give Google more flexibility in its own “offers” offerings – to delve more into other areas, such as location, like Mayer talked about, for example. The thing about Google is that it has so many products that it could find ways to integrate offers into. So many products tied to that one Google account. Think search, Gmail, Latitude, Places, etc. They have a lot of ways to potentially get offers in front of users’ eyeballs, and an email-style Groupon clone appears to be only a part of their strategy.

AOL Launches Patch Deals…Yes, Another Deals Service

Another week, another company “taking on Groupon”. This time it’s AOL – more specifically, AOL’s Patch. AOL is launching Patch Deals with a little help from American Express via its digital payment platform Serve, which will power the Patch Deals Platform.

“Our collaboration with AOL’s Patch increases the scale and reach of the Serve platform and helps bridge the divide between online commerce and offline deals in a way that benefits merchants and consumers,” said Dan Schulman, Group President, Enterprise Growth, American Express. “This partnership showcases the breadth of the capabilities of the Serve platform to make digital payments hassle-free, user-friendly and part of the norm – and now through our work with Patch, we can add locally relevant to that list.”

In the Patch Deals FAQs, we learn that:

LivingSocial Talks Instant Deals Launches

Back in April, LivingSocial launched its Instant Deals product in Washington DC, where consumers bought up a slew of dollar lunches. This week, the company did the same in New York City.

LivingSocial Communications Director Marie Griffin told us a bit about the two launches, and what’s planned. “LivingSocial is based in Washington, DC, so it was a no-brainer to launch the very first Instant Deals market and create the nation’s first-ever Dollar Lunch Day in our own backyard,” she told WebProNews.

“New York City was a natural next step given the concentration of fabulous restaurants and the fact that so many New Yorkers travel by foot, or at least within walking distance, to grab lunch,” she added.

LivingSocial has quickly risen up to give Groupon, the leader in the deals space a run for its money, while other big players like Facebook and Google are slowly emerging upon the scene. Still, a survey from MerchantCircle this week found that most merchants indicated they’d be more likely to go with offerings from Facebook and Google than other competitors due to audience size and brand familiarity.

I doubt this poses much of a threat to LivingSocial, however, as it’s already been doing a pretty good job of building its own brand, and is also getting some extra love from another big and trusted brand in Amazon, who is an investor in the company, and has already included LivingSocial in its own Amazon Local deals offering.

The Instant Deals are already a big hit with consumers where it has been available. As it expands into new markets, it should provide LivingSocial with an additional boost. The dollar lunch angle is a great way to launch such a product to capture consumer interest.

“The beauty of Instant Deals lies in the fact that Midtown diners could literally step outside their office and snag a deal with in half a mile of their location,” said Griffin. “DC diners bought more than 27,000 vouchers within a 14 to 15 mile range; Midtown Manhattanites purchased more than 15,000 vouchers yesterday within approximately five square miles in Midtown.”

“Our merchants have been thrilled with the increased traffic and exposure as a result of their Dollar Lunch Day participation,” she added. “Some were new to LivingSocial and got a taste of what it’s like to engage and entice our members with an incredible deal on the fly. Others have run LivingSocial Daily Deals with us in the past and were eager to try our shorter-term Instant Deals on for size.”

LivingSocial will be launching Instant Deals in its domestic markets and internationally. Griffin tells us to “stay tuned for more news very soon,” and “We are planning a national roll out set to be complete by the end of the year.”

Amazon Local Launches for Daily Deals

Clearly the daily deals space is on fire. That was true even before Groupon filed for its IPO today.

Now the web’s largest retailer has something called Amazon Local, which is featuring deals from LivingSocial, the Groupon competitor that Amazon has invested in.

@AmazonLocal
AmazonLocal#AmazonLocal, our new daily deals service, just launched in Boise with a sweet deal on ice cream http://bit.ly/jXk8CJ via @AmazonLocalBOI 5 hours ago via Social Manager Publisher · powered by @socialditto

@AmazonLocal
AmazonLocalNot in Boise? Subscribe now and we’ll send you deals when #AmazonLocal is available in your area. http://bit.ly/kHlAwR 5 hours ago via Social Manager Publisher · powered by @socialditto

The Next Web gets credit for first reporting on this service, which didn’t launch with any big announcement from the company. The service itself is only available in Boise, Idaho at the moment, and this was evidently inspired by Boise State’s football field. The company told TNW, “[The] blue football field represents just the kind of adventurous spirit we want our customers to experience every day. We will quickly be expanding to other cities, but we liked the idea of starting in a city that embraces fun.”

Rather than offering its own Groupon clone, Amazon will provide deals from other providers, and LivingSocial is just the first. Aggregation and the method/timing/location of the delivery of deals is going to keep becoming more important in this space, which makes Amazon’s decision seem pretty smart. Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry at Business Insider makes some pretty good points to this effect:

“The daily deals market is huge and Amazon needs to be there. At the same time, it’s a bit difficult to tackle. It requires a huge sales force and a presence in every state. It poses serious tax issues for Amazon. And daily deals are as much about advertising as they are about commerce, and does Amazon really want to tackle Google and Yelp and Foursquare in local advertising?”

So the aggregation route, like investing in LivingSocial, is a smart way to get intelligence, relationships, and of course money, in a huge fast-growing space without having to go all-in.

Amazon Local stores deals purchased by customers in their Your Deals section, and until the end of the year, users can reportedly earn five points for each dollar they spend at Amazon Local with the Amazon.com Rewards Visa Card. After that these customers can earn 3 points on each deal.

Groupon CEO Thinks Clones Are Like Plagiarism, Makes Fun of Google

Groupon CEO Andrew Mason spoke in an on-stage interview with Kara Swisher at the All Things Digital D9 conference, where he had some interesting thing to say about the booming daily deals industry.

It’s no secret that Groupon-like services have been coming out of the woodwork, and plenty of questions about the company’s future remain. The main one would be: Can the Groupon remain the leader in this space?

Clearly it’s fairly easy to launch some form of daily deals service – maybe not on the scale that Groupon has managed to achieve, but a service doesn’t have to cater to such a scale to be successful. That’s why so many niche versions of the daily deals service are popping up in locations all over the world. That’s also why aggregation of deals is likely to become more important to consumers than any one deals service. Things like what PriceGrabber just launched, and location-based mobile offerings – like what Loopt is doing with Groupon Now Alerts, but if they had such alerts for a plethora of deals services, giving consumers lists of relevant deals based on their physical location.

Mason considers there to be three types of competitors (and Mason’s comments throughout this article are as noted by All Things Digital): straight-up clones, sleeping giants, and the ones out of left field. Mason takes issues with the clones, saying that Groupon spent two years pivoting before it landed on its current model.

“We are proud of the idea in the way anyone would be if they invented something,” he’s quoted as saying. “All the clones were drafting everything we were doing. I was a music major, and with music, we call that plagiarism. But in business it’s called competition.”

Later, he added, “competition is good for the consumer,” “innovation is good for the space, ” and “As along as we make a product that people love more than anything else, we’ll be successful.”

Swisher prodded him about turning down Google’s offer to buy the Groupon, but he just said Groupon is happy as an independent company. He did make a joke at Google’s expense, with regards to Google’s new Groupon competitor Google Offers, saying “What they really did well is integration with Buzz,” which evidently got big laughter from the audience.

On that note, Google launched its +1 button for websites yesterday, and many sites immediately replaced the Google Buzz buttons on their content, raising serious questions about the future of Buzz. Google Offers also officially launched this week, in Portland. Groupon is currently in 46 countries.

According to Mason, local commerce is a $12 $14 billion market, and if Groupon gets 10% of it, they’ll be happy.