Groupon, Foursquare Team For Revenue, Reach
- by Gavin O'Malley @mp_gavin, July 29, 2011
Combining the Web's top "check-in" and daily deal services, Foursquare and Groupon officially announced teaming up on Friday.
"When we think of mobile addiction beyond Now! we think foursquare," Julie Anne Mossler, Groupon's director of communications, explained in a blog post on Friday. "So, attention Mayors, Newbies and Badge Bon Vivants -- the foursquare check-in just got a little sweeter!"
Like any deal partner, Groupon has agreed to share an undisclosed share of revenue with Foursquare. Groupon, however, is not Foursquare's only daily deal partner. Earlier this month, it rolled out partnerships with LivingSocial, Gilt City, AT&T Interactive, BuyWithMe and Zozi.
With the alliance, Foursquare gets additional deals with which to lure users, while Groupon can expect added exposure and reach.
Why was Groupon so late to the party? According to Mashable, which first confirmed the partnership on Friday, the deal leader has been busy ironing out terms with Foursquare. Domestic Foursquare users can now expect to see Groupon's daily deals in the Explore tab of the application and on Foursquare.com.
"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," Mossler added.
Foursquare will now show users Groupon Now deals that are available nearby, and both companies will take a cut if a user purchases the deal.
No reps from Groupon or Foursquare were available at press time to offer additional partnership details.
While questions persist regarding its business model, Foursquare appears to be holding its ground against LBS interlopers, such as Facebook, Google and Patch. Indeed, last month the company announced registering over 10 million users, although it would not say how many of those were active.
Foursquare also recently partnered with American Express to offer discounts to cardholders when they "check in" to certain shops and restaurants.
Still losing money, Groupon said last month that it plans to raise $750 million in an IPO.
While sales at the Chicago-based company surged more than 14-fold to $644 million last year, Groupon has also reportedly amassed about $540 million in operating losses since its founding in 2008. Its costs are rising faster than revenue.
It'd be great if foursquare would show all of its partners offers (including the "use now deals") giving the consumer more options and on the other hand, they could make some money where companies with coupons/discounts would pay to appear on top of the list or have two different categories, one for direct business owners and another one for the companies such as Groupon, Living Social, Deal Chicken that offer those last minute deals within a few miles of the consumer location.