CHICAGO -- Online coupon company Groupon has announced it is expanding the number of ways that it works with retailers by launching Deal Builder, a self-service option for local businesses to build their own Groupon deal.
The company will expand the platform to food and beverage merchants later in 2014.
The new platform, which lives on GrouponWorks.com, guides merchants through a step-by-step process and enables them to choose from a series of popular deal templates to construct a promotion that best meets the needs of their business.
"With the launch of Deal Builder, we now have a customizable solution for the thousands of merchants that contact us directly every month wanting to run a deal," said Dan Roarty, vice president of product development at Groupon. "By expanding the number of ways that merchants can work with Groupon, we're providing our customers with even more great local business options when they want to do or buy just about anything, anywhere, anytime."
Previously piloted to an audience of more than 10,000 merchants, Deal Builder is now available to almost every local business in the United States, the company said. To begin the process, merchants fill out their basic information, and then choose the right deal structure and discount for their business.
Once a merchant is finished, and they have opportunity to review the final product, they e-sign their contract and the deal goes live after a short review process. If at any time throughout the process a merchant needs to speak with a Groupon sales representative, he or she can reach someone via a live chat button.
"Merchants can tell us how many customers they need and what type of discount they want to offer, and we'll use our expertise from working with more than 500,000 businesses worldwide to help guide them to create an effective Groupon promotion for their business," Roarty said.
Merchants can choose which of their products or services they want to feature as part of their Groupon deal.
Groupon's local ecommerce marketplace had more than 65,000 active deals on average at the end of third-quarter 2013. To get started with building a Groupon deal, merchants can visit https://www.grouponworks.com/get-featured.
Chicago-based Groupon facilitates local commerce by offering consumers a marketplace of deals in the areas of electronics, fashion, home furnishings and more. Groupon helps traditional small businesses attract, retain and interact with customers by providing merchants with a suite of products and services, including customizable deal campaigns, credit-card payment processing capabilities, and point-of-sale solutions that help businesses grow and operate more effectively.
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