Black Friday and Cyber Monday for holiday shopping are bedrocks of the nation’s economy. Where do deals fit in?
As Bloomberg reports, Yipit Data forecasts that U.S. consumers will spend $80 million to $100 million on daily deals gifts between Thanksgiving and Christmas, up from $15 million to $20 million in 2010. A separate poll of …

Image Source: Mashable
Groupon’s greatly reduced IPO is apparently set to take place on Friday, Nov. 4, in an environment much less friendly than originally envisioned last spring.
The bloom has come off for a number of reasons. Groupon has almost no barriers to entry and has had to contend with dozens and dozens of copy cats …

Just when the DMS ’11 audience thought it knew everything there is to know about group buying, Groupon Regional Sales Manager Brett Truka lifted the curtain a little higher. He also noted that the big G itself continues to gather important learnings that shape new, best practices.
Even though it’s a seemingly dead simple and compelling …

For all the recent negative bluster in the deals space, including one report of its imminent demise, BIA/Kelsey has a decidedly different message for the dissenters: “We still like ’em.”
At DMS ’11, Marketplaces Program Director Peter Krasilovsky painted a sunnier picture of the robust and still-rising group buying industry. Among the notable growth signals are …

Groupon has postponed its IPO roadshow and is re-evaluating the timing of its IPO on a “week by week” basis, according to The Wall Street Journal. To us, the delay is not really a surprise. The company has been hit by a rash of questions about its accounting methods, recent sales trends and overall prospects …

In true McLaughlin Group style, Greg Sterling moderated the final session at Deals 3D — “Deals: The Next Stage” — more as a rapid-fire roundtable than a traditional panel. He dished, they debated. So, consistent to the theme, here are samples of how Closely’s Perry Evans, Wantsa’s David Strebinger and Deal Current’s Jimmy Hendricks see …

With Groupon going public, the promotions space is getting tremendously revved up. Hoping to get in on the action are promotional relatives of the deals space, including providers of grocery “cents off” coupons, retail weekly sales (circulars), retail rewards and Buy One Get One Free. While most of these don’t do much with local advertisers, …

Groupon is moving past deal a day with a Quiznos deal on Wednesdays that will issue an eight “signature sandwich” punch card to users for $26 — roughly half off the $51.92 maximum value. Maybe buyers will indulge in some “overage” — a Snapple and chips? — while they are there.
As reported by John …

Dealfind, a Toronto-based daily deal site, has raised $31 million as it strives for rapid growth to reach 100 markets in Canada and the U.S. The site, which has sold 806,199 vouchers since its launch in 2009, is currently operating in 28 Canadian and U.S. markets (17 in Canada, 11 in the U.S.). It is …

Groupon has moved closer to CEO Andrew Mason’s vision of being a “city guide” via “GrouponLive,” a new events source featuring various Live Nation events. “The Live Email,” featuring last minute discounts, is being sent out to Ticketmaster’s regular opt-in list. It is also available to users who go to the site. Live Nation says …

Chicago-based Groupon is pushing hard in Silicon Valley to build a major tech presence on the back of Mobility, a mobile services firm purchased last year. One piece of evidence: a billboard on the 101 touting the company as a place to work.
At Where 2.0 today in Santa Clara, VP and GM Mihir Shah said …

As it turns out, the daily deals landscape is more sophisticated than many first thought. New contours are emerging, each replete with opportunity and threat. Bluntly branding the space as “the next big thing” or a “can’t-miss opportunity” lacks the necessary strategic discernment in an industry replete with competitors and fortressed with high barriers to …

 
Even as preprint circulars continue to account for a hefty chunk of newspaper revenues, the race to migrate these FSIs onto digital platforms that provide compelling shopping experiences and command premium CPMs is revving up. Associated Press will soon release iCircular for mobile devices, Gannett’s PointRoll operates ShopLocal, Local.com has a local option and several deal/offer aggregators …

Groupon’s spectacular growth has now been quantified. According to an internal memo leaked to The Wall Street Journal, Groupon had $475 Million in revenues in 2010, and $760 million worldwide, with a presence in 35 countries. It also had 51 million subscribers, served by 4,150 employees. Groupon expects to follow up with with $2 …

Jer’s Gourmet Chocolates of Solana Beach has the world’s best pretzel chocolate balls, and Jer, a former IBM EVP, can be found all over North County San Diego hawking his handmade creations and talking chocolate. I’ve seen him at Costco and The Mother’s Day chocolate festivals at the San Diego Botanical Gardens.
He’s also got placement …

According to the Australian media news site mUmBRELLA, Sensis has soft-launched a daily deals product called Yellow Pages Offers that is currently live in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. There has been no formal launch, but the site has reportedly been operating since December.
This move puts Sensis in the game popularized by Groupon, LivingSocial and others. …

What do you do to keep your customer after your deal of the day runs? That’s a big question for tens of thousands of SMBs — many of which have used deal a day as a loss leader and have an investment in making it work.
Companies such as Closely and WildFire Interactive have a number …

 
In December, we discussed the implications of Groupon’s pact with public Wi-Fi network provider JiWire as a potentially significant next step for social commerce — hyperlocal group buying that leverages geotargeting to serve nearby deals to connected customers. The partnership has now gone live across JiWire’s footprint of more than 30,000 locales (cafes, coffee shops, airport lounges) …

When Amazon made its deal to invest $175 million in LivingSocial, it wasn’t entirely clear how Amazon played in the local deal space. Sure, Amazon has its own non-local deals. And it owns Dallas-based Woot, a product-based deals provider. Still, it wasn’t clear.
Today, we have a better idea how they play together. Amazon put a …

Groupon’s smashing success has spawned hundreds of clones and, given its relatively simple technology and the absence of entry barriers, buoyed those imitators that they too may strike it rich in social commerce. Wildfire Promotion Builder comes at it from a different angle. Rather than wrangle with the behemoth head-on, the start-up sees itself as a complement that …