Daily deal behemoth Groupon and comparison shopping bar code scanning app ShopSavvy have begun delivering local, personalized Groupon deals to mobile users who have downloaded the ShopSavvy app.
The more than 10 million consumers who have downloaded ShopSavvy’s app can now access local Groupon offers via a new Deals tab within the ShopSavvy app. The Deals tab offers ShopSavvy users a Twitter-like stream of offers, promotions and coupons. ShopSavvy Deals leverages a shopper’s location, shopping history, wish lists and user ratings to deliver relevant offers. Initially, Groupon offers on the ShopSavvy Deals stream will be targeted by geography, with more specific targeting for individual users to come in the coming months. The ShopSavvy Deals service is available in the iPhone and Android apps.
“ShopSavvy plans to enhance Groupon’s value for our users by sending them only the deals we know they will be interested in, based on their shopping history, location and preferences,” says Alexander Muse, co-founder of ShopSavvy.
The app will be another mobile extension for Groupon, which has its own apps delivering deals for the iPhone, Android smartphones and BlackBerrys. That’s in addition to the 50 million consumers in more than 500 markets worldwide who have signed up to receive Groupon offers via e-mail, the company says. Groupon sold $787 million worth of deals last year, according to investment bank Janney Capital Markets. Groupon’s daily deals offer goods mainly at local establishments at a 50% to 90% discount; Groupon takes about 50% of each voucher consumers purchase.
“We are pleased to be partnering with ShopSavvy, one of the leading mobile shopping platforms,” says Mihir Shah, vice president and general manager of mobile for Groupon. “This partnership brings exciting opportunities for mobile shoppers looking for offers relevant to their buying interests.”
ShopSavvy says its app was downloaded more than two million times in November as more holiday shoppers tried out the app in hope of nabbing the best deals during their gift hunting. Consumers downloaded the free app 1.4 million times to their iPhones and 750,000 times on smartphones using Google Inc.’s Android operating system. It was the biggest month for downloads since the app launched in November 2008, ShopSavvy says.
In addition to the new Deals tab that incorporates local Groupons, the newest version of the app, ShopSavvy 4, offers a price-matching function that tells a consumer if a retailer will match a competitor’s price based on ShopSavvy results, as well as up-to-date inventory information. A blue dot by a retailer’s name on the price results pages tells the shopper if an item is in stock. A shopper also can add and share product photos and prices when he comes across a product, price or retailer that’s not already in ShopSavvy’s price comparison engine. ShopSavvy 4 also incorporates more robust product ratings and reviews than earlier versions of the app, the company says. Consumers can add their own ratings and reviews and share them with other app users.
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