Head of Groupon Goods Faisal Masud is leaving to take a new job
photo: Getty Images / Scott Olson
Faisal Masud, who was hired away from eBay to help Groupon become a broader e-commerce company, is moving on. Read more »
AT&T, Verizon offer daily deals with a phone-tracking twist
AT&T is offering an SMS location-based offers service, while Verizon is delving deep into the handset to cull web and app usage information for its deal targeting purposes. Both programs are opt-in only in an attempt to head off the inevitable concerns over privacy. Read more »
Groupon’s Mason: I “can’t talk the stock up back to 20 bucks”
“Groupon is a special kind of company,” CEO Andrew Mason said Wednesday amid reports that he is going to be fired. “I’ve seen Groupon crush the most seasoned professionals. What Groupon needs from the CEO role is consistent leadership.” Read more »
Daily deals dead? Zulily says no, raises $85M from Andreessen
photo: Zulily
Deals site for moms, babies and kids Zulily raised a whopping $85 million in a Series D round led by Andreessen Horowitz. While daily deals sites like Groupon are struggling, Zulily is growing and now has 10 million daily users. Read more »
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Social third-quarter 2012: analysis and outlook
Social media technologies continue to permeate marketing and enterprise collaboration, even if investors felt let down in the third quarter by their consumer-facing businesses like Facebook, Groupon, and Zynga. So B2B technology offerings in support of marketing and collaboration will soon steal all the social tech attention. This quarterly wrap-up analyzes these events, and provides a near-term outlook for trends, technologies and companies to watch in the next 18 to 24 months. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
With Savored buy, Groupon moves further away from daily deals
photo: Savored
Groupon has bought New York City-based discount reservation service Savored, which offers diners up to 40 percent off their meals in exchange for making a reservation at a specific time. The acquisition complements Groupon Now, but distances Groupon even more from its core daily deals product. Read more »
As daily deals decline, DealsGoRound relaunches as MyCabbage
photo: MyCabbage
With daily deals in retreat, it’s forcing companies that have built up to serve that market to evolve. DealsGoRound, a secondary market for deals, is now relaunching as MyCabbage, a broader service for saving not just deals but gift cards and coupons. Read more »
Groupon shareholder Kinnevik heads for the door
photo: Getty Images / Scott Olson
Swedish investment group Kinnevik has cut its ties with Groupon, selling up its remaining stake in the daily deals company for $81.5 million — a shareholding that was valued at almost $200 million when the company went public in November. Read more »
Groupon finally has some good news to talk about
Things are looking up a little for beleaguered daily deals company Groupon. Shares in the company rallied Monday morning after a Morgan Stanley analyst upgraded the company to “overweight.” Read more »
With new funding, Group Commerce looks beyond daily deals
New York-based Group Commerce today announced that it has raised $21 million in new funding to help expand its footprint into the U.K., Germany and other parts of Europe, as well as further develop its platform to support all kinds of e-commerce. Read more »
Groupon expands beyond deals with rewards program
In an attempt to move beyond being a provider of deals, Groupon is launching a loyalty program for U.S. consumers and merchants, part of a bigger effort to become the “operating system for local commerce.” Groupon Rewards gives merchants a way to track and recognize loyalty. Read more »
Closure of CityPockets provides window onto shakeout in daily deal business
This week, CityPockets, a NY-based daily deal organizer and secondary market, said it was shutting down and pivoting. Amid concerns over Groupon’s health and debates over deal fatigue, the announcement seems to be the latest sign of an industry in turmoil. Read more »
Signpost, the AdSense for local business, raises $3.75M
SignPost, a New York start-up, that helps craft online marketing campaigns for local businesses is getting more money to expand its efforts. Spark Capital is leading a $3.75 million Series A round in the three-year-old company. Read more »
Time Out NY adds e-commerce, daily deals and apps
photo: Time Out New York
As Time Out New York rolls out a new digital strategy, the company hopes its trusted editorial brand will outweigh New Yorkers’ possible app fatigue. Read more at paidContent »
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Hyperlocal: opportunities for publishers and developers
Hyperlocal mobile advertising is at a critical juncture: Leading analysts predict that mobile ad spending will increase by more than five times between 2011 and 2015. But what are the forces at play, and how effective are HyLoMo ads? Read more at GigaOM Pro »
More Papers Put Faith In Daily Deals And Tablet Payments As Profit Shrinks
Some low-hanging fruit in newspapers’ shrivelling orchard – Trinity Mirror (LSE: TNI) says it is investing in a Groupon (NSDQ: GRPN) copycat… Read more at paidContent »
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Amex is all potential in social commerce
After attracting attention last summer for social commerce initiatives with Foursquare and Facebook, last week American Express announced a new coupons hook-up with Twitter. Amex has the potential to be a powerhouse in social commerce, but so far that potential remains ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Cudo Blames Vendor For Pirated E-Book Deal, Grosses AUD $230k
photo: Cudo
Cudo, the Microsoft-backed Australian daily deal site that offered a $99 Chinese e-reader bundled with a CD of pirated e-books (Stephen King… Read more at paidContent »
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Opportunities and challenges for mobile deals
Mobile deals combine location-aware discounts with mobile marketing campaigns. What are the largest pitfalls in this promising space, though? Privacy and security issues must be addressed to assure consumers their purchases are secure and their location is being closely guarded. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Microsoft-Backed Daily Deal Site Sells E-Reader Bundled With Pirated Titles
photo: Cudo
Australian daily deal site Cudo, which is backed by Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), has a great deal for you if you like pirated e-books. Stephen Ki… Read more at paidContent »
FT Digital Subscriptions Surpass Print In U.S. As Sign-Ups Slow
The Financial Times is still signing up new digital subscribers, but at the slowest rate since iPad lit up its business model in mid-2010. Read more at paidContent »
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Defining the mobile wallet: what it is, why it matters
With new products from a variety of players like Google and Isis comes a potentially confusing year as the term “mobile wallet” gets thrown around repeatedly. What exactly is the “mobile wallet”? Here are some important definitions for those looking to make a move in the space. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
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Facebook store flops demand a shift in emphasis
Last week, a negative Bloomberg story about Facebook storefronts described how GameStop, Gap, J.C. Penney and Nordstrom had closed their Facebook stores. That doesn’t mean retailers should give up. Instead, they should put their Facebook stores in the hands of their marketing and promotions staff and ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Home Decor Flash Site One Kings Lane Expands Editorial Content
photo: One Kings Lane
In the hopes that users will be drawn in by the video on how to make a bed perfectly, then stick around for the deals on Scandia pillows, ho… Read more at paidContent »
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Amazon’s DynamoDB: rattling the cloud market
DynamoDB, AWS’ latest effort to rock the technology establishment, has many implications for other players in the big data and cloud computing markets. A new GigaOM Pro research note examines just who is affected, and how. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
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NewNet Q4: Platform mania and social commerce shakeout
The fourth quarter may have lacked a dominating big-event product announcement like Q3’s Facebook platform extension or Q2’s unveiling of Google+, but the NewNet world continued to buzz along. In the battle for mind share, everyone wanted to be a platform. Meanwhile, consumer and social technologies continued to gain momentum, and new vehicles for content and service discovery presented both challenges and opportunities for NewNet companies. And it is hard to ignore the overcrowded but growing world of daily deals. This quarterly report analyzes these trends and others, and it also provides a near-term outlook of trends, technologies and companies to watch in 2012. Companies mentioned in the report include Amazon, Facebook and Socialcast. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Will Groupon's Deal With Deutsche Telekom Be A Winning Template For Growth?
Today we know a bit more about how Groupon (NSDQ: GRPN) plans to extend its business opportunities in the years ahead: mobile services will… Read more at paidContent »
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Connected Consumer 2012: A year of consolidation and integration
Call it the year of lessons learned, if not quite bubbles burst. In 2011, several trends in the connected consumer space that appeared inexorable at the start of the year seemed disorganized by the end. What does that mean for the next 12 months? From cloud-based media storage to daily deals to the fight for the digital living room, 2012 will be a year of consolidation and integration. Both entrepreneurs and investors will figure out that many once-promising standalone business models need to be grounded on more solid, integrated platforms to create real value. Companies mentioned in this report include Hulu, LivingSocial, Netflix and Zynga. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The Mysterious Hacking Charges Against Groupon
Major news outlets this week reported that merchants filed a lawsuit against Groupon (NSDQ: GRPN) for tampering with electronic contracts. T… Read more at paidContent »
The state of e-commerce: M&A surging, daily deals still big
It’s been a big part of the Internet picture for well over a decade, but right now e-commerce is really hitting its stride, according to a new report out of CB Insights and the BizTech@Wharton Conference. M&A activity is surging and investment dollars are growing steadily. Read more »
Groupon's Exaggerated Deals Will Be Probed By UK Government
Back in June, paidContent reported how the UK’s advertising regulator had started reprimanding Groupon (NSDQ: GRPN) after a growing number o… Read more at paidContent »
Frugalo aims to wake us up from daily deal fatigue
Nowadays, many people’s email inboxes are overflowing with deal advertisements. As much as everyone loves a bargain, it can all be a bit overwhelming. A new app called Frugalo aims to separate the wheat from the chaff in our daily deal overloaded email inboxes. Read more »
DailyCandy Looks To Closer Ties Between E-Commerce And Ad Sales
With last week’s hiring of Gilt City’s Fernando Romero, as VP of ad sales of women’s lifestyle guide DailyCandy, the company has decided tha… Read more at paidContent »
Major Newspaper Publishers Band Together On Social Shopping Portal
photo: Corbis / Randy Faris
A group of eight newspaper publishers — Advance Digital, A. H. Belo Corporation, Cox Media Group, Gannett (NYSE: GCI), Hearst, MediaNews Gr… Read more at paidContent »
Yipit brings aggregated daily deals to iPhone
Daily deal aggregator Yipit is finally available on mobile with a new iPhone app. The app provides users with a mobile version of Yipit’s My Deals feature, which personalizes deal recommendations from its base of more than 800 providers and serves up the top offers. Read more »
Shopping App Shopkick Adds 1,000 Old Navy Stores To Its Network
A big bump in business for bricks-and-mortar mobile shopping app Shopkick: the company has signed a significant deal with Old Navy clothing… Read more at paidContent »
CrowdMob builds a Tapjoy+Groupon for distributing local deals
CrowdMob, an Andreessen Horowitz-backed startup, is taking the wraps off its business: creating a next-generation deal network that combines Tapjoy with Groupon. CrowdMob will distribute local deals via mobile gaming apps, incentivizing gamers to purchase offers using virtual currency. Read more »
Groupon, Yelp Sued Over Mobile Commerce Patent
Investors are not the only ones who see Groupon (NSDQ: GRPN) as a money maker these days. In a lawsuit filed today, a California company is… Read more at paidContent »
Updated: The Deal Is On! Groupon Gets $700 Million IPO, Stock Up 31 Percent
There may be hundreds of competitors out there, but Groupon (NSDQ: GRPN) this week has confirmed itself as the biggest daily deals site of t… Read more at paidContent »
Are Groupon’s Lawsuits A Burden?
Groupon is facing an ugly brew of consumer, employee and intellectual property lawsuits. This messy legal landscape is yet another wild card… Read more at paidContent »
