Hold onto your hat, Groupon! Yelp just announced that its first local "deal" is live. Yup, as the local review site quietly acknowledged last month, it's moving into the white-hot local deals space --
or what everyone, including
Business Insider, still refers to as Groupon territory. Still, "Yelp is a
natural fit to become a big player in daily deals, given its reach, its position as an authority on restaurants, and its existing sales force with local merchants," notes BI. Daily deals will be
rolling out in San Francisco, New York, and elsewhere "soon," but doesn't get more specific than that.
"Yelp's mission from the beginning has been to connect consumers with great local
businesses," explains the company's official
blog. "Staying true to our roots, we're excited to feature special offers
from great local businesses that are worthy of our community's attention." The opening deal is for 5 yoga lessons for $30 -- So original! Presently, Yep claims about 36 million monthly unique
visitors.
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