Groupon denies that plans for a Google “daily deals” service will eventually see the company lose its position as market leader.
Christopher Muhr, Groupon UK managing director, says Groupon has a head start in forming contacts amongst local businesses. The two-year-old company, reported to be the fastest-growing in the world, says it is adding 150 new employees a month to its Chicago headquarters alone.
Muhr does admit that both Google Offers and the Facebook Deals service, launched in the US in November, last year present a competitive threat to the business, and says it would be “foolish” not to take them seriously.
“Market power helps, because Google has a huge email inventory it could tap, Facebook has a great platform to activate people, but the source of power in that space is the merchant, the partner,” says Muhr.
He predicts that Facebook and Google are likely to target larger brands, as opposed to the local links that Groupon has formed through its rapidly expanding sales force.
Speaking at briefing in London today (27 January), Joanna Shields, vice president and managing director of Facebook EMEA, says “our products are always open to anyone who wants to participate”, though a list of US launch partners for Facebook Deals consisted mainly of large and multinational companies.
Facebook vice president of partnerships and platform marketing, Dan Rose, says new Facebook launches such as Deals will always have a “social design”. The company thinks about products “from the perspective of people and their friends first and foremost, and whatever the application is as secondary to that”.
Facebook has also announced the launch of its own group-buying feature, “Buy with Friends”, although it will initially be restricted to the purchase of Facebook credits used in transactions for virtual goods, such as those in social games.
The New Year price war between Asda and Tesco has intensified after Tesco launched a “daily dozen” price pledge to counter what it claims is Asda’s “false” price guarantee.
Signet, the retail group which owns jewellers H. Samuel and Ernest Jones, has restructured its marketing department to focus on individual brands.
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