Groupon
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Groupon is done selling you junk
For most folks, Groupon is probably synonymous with dirt-cheap spa days, wine tastings or trips to the fancy escape room across town. Open the app, however, and for every experience on offer, there's a listing for a faux-leather purse, off-brand latex mattress or sheepskin comfort slipper. Now, as part of its turnaround plan, Groupon is going to pull out of selling products in order to get back to the good old days.
IBM demands $167 million from Groupon for using its patents
IBM and Groupon have been engaged in a legal battle over patents since 2016, with the tech giant accusing the deals website of violating four of its e-commerce IPs without permission. Now, IBM is seeking $167 million from Groupon, telling jurors that other companies like Amazon and Facebook bought licenses to use its technologies for between $20 million to $50 million, while the deals marketplace refuses to do so. "The new kid on the block refuses to take responsibility for the technology it's using," IBM lawyer John Desmarais said in a statement. "IBM spends literally billions of dollars every year on research and development to make our lives easier."
Groupon's new CEO insists the company is 'misunderstood'
Last week Groupon's shares hit an all-time low, only days after appointing Rich Williams as its new CEO in place of co-founder Eric Lefkofsky. What's more, Groupon recently ceased operations in Puerto Rico, Taiwan, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and a handful of other countries, adding to notable layoffs the company announced back in September. All of this is to say that Groupon, which offers coupons and deals to online customers, is at a crucial point in its short history -- how much longer can it go on like this? To answer that, newly appointed chief Rich Williams today wrote about Groupon's chances to win the daily local deals game, one that tech giants like Amazon have failed at, among other things.
Amazon will ditch its daily local deals on December 18 (update: Register too)
If you're the sort of person who really likes getting $50 of seafood for $25, your day just got a little more depressing. Amazon just announced that it would stop selling those sorts of daily deals from both its AmazonLocal site and its corresponding app on December 18th. Don't worry if you've loaded already up your calendar with days-long real estate courses and cheap car washes — any vouchers you already have, or buy before the deadline, will remain valid. Update: That's not all for the local services pullback, as Amazon also revealed it's shutting down the Local Register app that competed with the likes of Square and PayPal to process payments for small businesses. As of the 30th it is no longer accepting new customers, and the service will fully shut down on February 1st.
Groupon's food delivery service brings discounts with every order
You're about to get a fresh alternative to internet-based restaurant delivery services like GrubHub and Seamless. Groupon has just launched the simply-titled Groupon To Go, an order-in service that focuses on (what else?) discounts for your food. The company promises that you'll get at least 10 percent cash back on every order, which could add up if you're ordering pizza every week. The offering is only available in Chicago right now, but there are over 500 included restaurants ranging from big chains like Subway to local eateries like Al's Beef and Ditka's Restaurant. And don't worry about waiting long to give it a shot -- Groupon is expanding the service later this year, with Austin and Boston among the early highlights. It'll eventually be available nationwide.
Groupon says it's ended its trademark spat with open-source community (update)
Well, this could get messy. The GNOME project is a well-known free and open-source desktop environment for Linux distros. Gnome is also the name of Groupon's new proprietary point-of-sale operating system. The two couldn't be more opposed in ethos, and given the fact that the former has held a registered trademark on its software for the best part of a decade, the GNOME Foundation is understandably upset.
Move over daily deals, Groupon's getting into groceries
Groupon has always been pretty good for scoring cheap dinners and discounted skydiving lessons, but now that disseminator of daily deals wants to help you save money on your groceries too. Yes, really -- the company just launched a new app called Snap that promises to give you ardent shoppers money back when you buy certain products at the store. The formula is simple enough: once you're done your weekly jaunt to the local grocer, you use the app to snap a photo of your receipt for Groupon to chew on. Buy the right item and you claim some cash back that sits in a wallet of sorts until it hits the $20 threshold -- after that, Groupon cuts you a check and that'll soon land in your mailbox. If that sounds a little unlike the Groupon we all know and tolerate, well, you'd have a point. With so many players vying for recognition in the daily deals space, companies like Groupon have had to search to new ways of making money... even seemingly out-of-character ones like this and the home bulk shopping endeavor it kicked off earlier this year..
Groupon lets merchants process cards, track customers with iPad-based Gnome
Gone are the days when restaurants and retailers needed to drop five figures for the privilege of tracking and ringing up customers. Square's Register app has been letting merchants process transactions with "cheap" consumer hardware since 2012, and now Groupon's reinforcing its own position in the point of sale game with a new iPad-based solution. Gnome, which is expected to cost merchants $10 per month, will let customers redeem their Groupons via Bluetooth, or simply by providing their name at checkout. Customers can receive email or printed receipts, and they can pay entirely with cash or a credit card whenever they're not redeeming a voucher. The company plans to move all merchants over to Gnome within the next few months, so expect a more streamlined Groupon experience soon.
Groupon Basics offers deals for bulk shopping at home
Groupon has tackled localized offers and sorted reservations, so now the deals site is looking to offer discounts for those who shop in bulk. The new effort -- appropriately called Basics -- allows you to stock up on over 100 household, hygiene and health products from companies like Gillette, Dove and Burt's Bees. To sweeten the deal(s), all purchases made through the new channel will earn 5 percent back in Groupon Bucks for future use. Right now, the service is only available in the continental US, but carts that tally over $25 will ship for free. As you might expect, options are a bit limited at launch, but the company says more options are on the way -- including grocery items. If you're anxious to get shopping, don't let us hold you up any longer. You can started browsing right here.
UPS and FedEx buckle under holiday load, leaving retailers and families in the lurch
Didn't get your Christmas presents in time? You're far from alone. Seems that both FedEx and UPS greatly underestimated the number of packages that would be passing through their systems this holiday season. More consumers are doing their gift shopping from the comfort and safety of their computers, bombarding our already stretched parcel services -- it's not surprising that something had to give. According to a spokesperson, FedEx handled roughly 275 million packages between Thanksgiving and December 22nd, while the US Postal Service said it saw a 19 percent increase in volume over last year (UPS declined to say exactly how much its expectations were exceeded). While these companies insist that the vast majority of packages were delivered by their promised December 24th deadline, a small portion did not make it in time to be placed under the tree on Christmas morning. Both the delivery companies and retailers are working to repair the damage, but the writing may be on the wall for 2014. The deadline for Christmas orders will undoubtedly be earlier next year, but the more immediate problem will be making things right with consumers this year.
Google Offers now lets you clip coupons without paying in advance
Mountain View wants you to know that Google Offers isn't another Groupon copycat; that's why the service is now taking a different approach. Whereas you've previously had to pay for discount vouchers in advance, you can now clip them for free and then pay for purchases in-store, making Offers more convenient to use. The company's also introducing coupons outside the main Offers app, adding them to Wallet, Maps and Search, as well as programming Google Now to flash a notification whenever you pass by a participating establishment. Here's some even better news for veteran users, though: you can either get a refund for unused offers you've paid for, or get your money back as Google Play credit. If you go the latter route, you'll get extra dollars on top -- enough to jazz up your phone with SwiftKey or Photoshop Touch.
Yelp update gives restaurant-goers full power to review from iPhones
In the past, users of the popular Yelp iPhone app could do just about anything on their devices that they could on the service's full website except one important thing -- leave full reviews. According to Ingrid Lunden at our sister site TechCrunch, here's how Eric Singley (VP of consumer and mobile products) responded in 2009 to a request from users to be able to leave reviews without having to resort to the desktop website: "We occasionally hear from other passionate Yelpers on why we haven't enabled review publishing from our mobile applications. There are several reasons why we do this...Well imagine what it would be like if reviews were done in SMS shorthand: 'OK so, IANAE, but AFAIC this place has THE best Cfood. It was gr8! ADBB' Um, yeah." Well, Yelp has apparently been seeing pressure from other apps that do allow users to leave detailed feedback -- apps like Foursquare, Groupon, Square and Facebook. The new update finally provides the capability, with a company spokesperson now saying that: "Having to wait until you get home to say what you think is a thing of the past – if you've had a wonderful experience, you want to shout about it there and then." Funny how competition can drive someone to change their mind, albeit slowly. Yelp has also made some significant moves recently, re-launching its "Nearby" feature that gives users suggestions about restaurants and other businesses nearby and purchasing OpenTable competitor SeatMe. Whether that's enough to nudge the business into the black is anyone's guess.
Groupon Reserve discounted reservations service comes to iOS
Groupon's iOS app just scored a refresh this week, adding access to the firm's new Reserve discount reservations platform via a dedicated tab. Savored users should be familiar with the concept: secure a spot at hit restaurants just as you can on OpenTable, but Groupon's flavor packs a compelling value add. Instead of earning negligible points towards dining gift certificates, Savored (and now Groupon Reserve) members can snag discounts of up to 40 percent at select restaurants in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. The feature is now available in Groupon's iOS app, which you can download (or update) at the source link below.
Groupon takes on OpenTable with 'Groupon Reserve,' bundles reservations with coupons
Not satisfied with simply locking down your discount mountain-climbing lessons and hot stone massages, Groupon announced Groupon Reserve this morning, which aims to bundle time-based discounts with restaurant reservations. Groupon's tapping Savored.com's reservation tech to handle the heavy-lifting behind the scenes -- the service is already live in 10 markets, including New York City and Los Angeles, and seemingly goes after OpenTable head-on. Of course, Groupon Reserve isn't quite the same service as OpenTable. With Reserve, you plug in a time, party size, date and city, and you're offered a variety of restaurant options with discounts, whereas with OpenTable you're simply plugging in the aforementioned info and looking for a spot. Though Groupon Reserve only handles restaurant reservations thus far, the plan is for "spas, salons and hotels" in the coming months; ambiguous options from "top beauty, product, travel and entertainment brands" are also in the cards. Groupon Reserve will reach international shores and even more US cities "by the end of 2013." Now if you'll excuse us, we're arranging a more affordable date at Butter. We're pretty fancy.
Groupon for $25 off BioShock Infinite on Steam
Unlike other Groupons for BOGO grow-your-own nagchampa kits and 15 percent off the first 30 minutes of your dog's Le Cordon Bleu certification lessons, this Groupon to get the PC version of BioShock Infinite for $35 is actually worth spending money on.
Groupon launches Breadcrumb iPad app, vows to not be a typical POS
Yesterday, Groupon POS appeared in the iTunes Store, but was quickly pulled. Now we know why. Breadcrumb POS, which is the official name of yesterday's leaked point-of-sale iPad app, is now officially available, bringing a simple interface and a handful of financial incentives. The application, which can be downloaded for free, charges vendors a credit card processing fee of 1.8 percent plus 15 cents per transaction, assuming you're swiping plastic from MasterCard, Visa or Discover. In an effort to get small businesses signed up, however, Groupon is offering to cover the fees on the first $5,000 in credit card transactions, a savings of $90 by our calculations, plus whatever you'd be paying per swipe. The app enables you to log transactions, manage menu items and issue refunds, in addition to processing credit cards and emailing receipts. The POS uses Breadcrumb Payments for processing, with deposits posting within 24 hours, and can be paired with a card swiper and optional printer (you can email receipts if you'd prefer). There's also free 24/7 telephone support, should you run into any issues while using the system. Breadcrumb POS won't replace the more sophisticated Pro version, which is available starting at $99 per month, and retailers will still be able to use the Groupon Merchants App for redeeming vouchers and processing supplemental payments. If the new Breadcrumb POS sounds like a fit, snag some more info at the source link below.
Groupon launches mobile payments iPad app to challenge Square
Groupon has launched a new iPad app called Groupon POS (perhaps not the best name) in an attempt to enter the iPad mobile payments arena and take on current leader Square. As of the time of this writing, Groupon has not made an official anouncement, but the app is now live in the App Store. Here are the deets from the app's description: A beautiful and simple way to manage your business and accept payments at the lowest rates available today. Set up your offerings in seconds, quickly check out customers and view real-time analytics. Start running your business more effectively. Groupon POS works also works with an optional cash drawer and printer to automate and simplify your point of sale. Groupon POS works for a wide variety of merchants from cafes and delis, to salons, spas and florists. 9to5Mac points out that Groupon POS appears to be a scaled-down version of the Breadcrumb POS app Groupon acquired last year. Groupon already offers another mobile payments app called Groupon Merchants for the iPhone. Update: The app has disappeared from the App Store. Looks like it was released prematurely.
Groupon POS builds upon Breadcrumb with simplified point-of-sale interface for iPad (update: pulled)
Last year, Groupon acquired Breadcrumb, a New York City-based startup known for its affordable iPad-based point-of-sale system. Now, a new Groupon-branded version of the tool, called POS, arrived in the iTunes store this morning, giving merchants a venue to process and track customer tabs, with a much simpler interface. The app, which appears to be a significantly dumbed-down version of Breadcrumb, is compatible with an optional cash drawer and printer, according to the iTunes listing, but doesn't appear to offer advanced management functionality, such as time sheets and advanced reports (though basic stats are tracked). Groupon POS is available for download now at the source link below -- subscription info is lacking, but based on the limited functionality here, we wouldn't be surprised to hear that it's free. Update: Groupon has pulled the app from iTunes pending a future launch of the POS product, which will be released under a different name.
Groupon Payments comes to Android, starts catching up to Square
Use Groupon Payments for your business? You just got a little more choice -- the popular deal broker just updated its Android app to support credit card transactions. The update brings the fledgling payment service a little closer to Square, which has been available on Android since 2010. If the iOS rates hold, swiping plastic through Groupon Merchants will set retailers back a mere $0.15 per transaction, plus 1.8 percent of the charge for Visa, MasterCard and Discover, or three percent for American Express. The update also boasts improved analytics, giving retailers the ability to check transaction history, daily sales reports and peek at revenue trends. Budding business owners can check out official press release after the break.
Groupon: 4GB Xbox 360 bundle with Forza 4, Alan Wake for $200
Groupon has posted the rare gaming-centric deal. For the next two days, you can purchase a 4GB Xbox 360 S console with included copies of Forza Motorsport 4 and Alan Wake for $200. If you feel it's a good enough deal to buy in bulk, you can purchase up to three through this promotion.This exact bundle was introduced during the holidays last year, albeit with a 250GB console. Also of note is the included copy of Alan Wake, which is not a physical disc but rather a download code. Consider it the tutorial puzzle preamble to Wake's nightly meandering through the Pacific Northwest.
