Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications
    • Cloud
    • Development

    Facebook Cedes Daily Deals to Groupon, LivingSocial

    By
    Clint Boulton
    -
    August 28, 2011
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Facebook said it has shuttered its local daily deals service, a 4-month-old effort to challenge Groupon and LivingSocial in the burgeoning but markedly copycat-filled market for social commerce.

      Launched in April, Facebook Deals let local businesses pitch deals to Facebook users living in Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Dallas; San Diego and San Francisco. The social network giant aggregated daily discounts of 50 percent or more from local merchants, as well as from providers such as aDealio, Gilt City and OpenTable.

      While deals issued from market leaders Groupon and LivingSocial target individuals, Facebook offered a more social bent on deals, including discount packages for concerts, group hikes and wine tastings. Facebook Deals came via email and a special Deals tab for Facebook homepages, but they also surfaced in News Feeds to show users what their friends are buying.

      The service failed to gain traction, though Facebook declined to say why it pulled a quick trigger on it.

      “After testing Deals for four months, we’ve decided to end our Deals product in the coming weeks,” a Facebook spokesperson told Reuters Aug. 26. “We think there is a lot of power in a social approach to driving people into local businesses. We’ve learned a lot from our test, and we’ll continue to evaluate how to best serve local businesses.”

      The chief challenge is that online daily deals have become a commodity business. Daily deals Websites sprout up like mushrooms; Amazon just extended its AmazonLocal deals service to New York City.

      As Altimeter Group analyst Jeremiah Owyang told Reuters: “There are no barriers to entry. It’s just not going to work because everybody offers it and therefore the margins go down.”

      Groupon, which is girding for an initial public offering, is universally acknowledged as the market leader in daily deals.

      However, HitWise Experian analyst Bill Tancer said Groupon has experienced almost a 50 percent traffic drop to its Website since its peak in the second week of June 2011, compared with last week.

      During the same time, Living Social has enjoyed 27 percent growth in visits to its own Website. The figures exclude mobile Web or access via applications.

      Tancer said this suggests the increased number of competitors (the commodity factor), not enough of the right deals to suit users’ preferences and “deal fatigue,” is causing traffic shifts at the top.

      Tancer noted that PriceGrabber found that 52 percent of those surveyed said they felt overwhelmed by the number of daily deal emails they receive each day.

      Facebook’s bow to market leaders Groupon and LivingSocial, which have carved out major portions of the East and West Coast daily deals sales, as well as parts of the Midwest and South, does not bode well for Google Offers, the search engine company’s take on the model.

      Google Offers is only available in New York, San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area, and Portland.

      The company hopes to pair a broader roll-out with its Google Wallet mobile payment service, which is launching in New York and San Francisco this summer to let consumers use their smartphones to tap and pay for goods from select retailers.

      Clint Boulton

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      Alteryx’s Suresh Vittal on the Democratization of...

      James Maguire - May 31, 2022 0
      I spoke with Suresh Vittal, Chief Product Officer at Alteryx, about the industry mega-shift toward making data analytics tools accessible to a company’s complete...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×