Mashable : Groupon’s Ambitious Plan to Change How & When We Eat With Its New Groupon Now App

The application, known as Groupon Now, is remarkably and elegantly simple, yet it’s a radical departure from Groupon’s current deal-a-day business model. When a user opens up the smartphone app, he or she will be presented with just two buttons: “I’m hungry” and “I’m bored.” Clicking either button will open up a list of time-specific daily deals, based on his or her location.

The familiar $10 coupons for $20 worth of food are still there, but they’re not one-time offers. Instead, businesses can choose when they want these deals to be available. Say a restaurant is incredibly busy on Saturdays but could use more business on Wednesdays. With Groupon Now, that business can fill its seats during slow business days using time-specific deals.

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Four Group Buy Sites Launch for UT Austin

Campus Daily Deals was launched in March 2010 by Campus Direct Media the publishers of the highly popular UT area edition of the Student Discount Handbook.University of Texas at Austin students and faculty love to get their Groupon!, LivingSocial, Morgan's Deals, and about a dozen other Austin area group buy deals. In fact, group buy industry leader Groupon's current user demographics show that 12% of their users are college students.

In addition to all the local and national group buy options in Austin, UT students, faculty, staff and area residents now have four new sources for group buy deals tailored to them:

Campus Daily Deals: Launched by Campus Direct Media the publishers of the highly popular UT area edition of the Student Discount Handbook.

The Buys of Texas: Daily Deal site launched by the University of Texas through its student media department.

College Mint: Recently launched Austin based college group buy site.

Big Deal on Campus: National college group buy site opening in the Austin market.

While four new media startups in the same niche in the same market seems like a lot, there are even more college group buy sites on the way to UT and campuses across the country.

As the group buy industry has started to move toward targeting geographic and demographic niches, the popularity of group buying amongst the campus crowd has fueled the launch of over 15 startups nationwide in the College Group Buy Space.

DM News : Valpak Begins Valpak Deals Rollout

Coupon company Valpak will launch a deals website on November 3 in three markets, and debut it in another market next week. The site, ValpakDeals.com, will offer daily deals, local coupons and sweepstakes for consumers in the three respective markets.

The initial launch will target customers in Omaha, NE; Long Island, NY; and Las Vegas, NV. Valpak will expand the service to Southern Connecticut next week, and to additional markets in the months ahead.

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Digital Coupon Use Increased By More Than 59.9 Percent Through September 30, 2010, Versus The Same Period In 2009

MINNEAPOLIS, MN October 20, 2010 – For the calendar year-to-date (CYTD) period ending September 30, 2010, the number of digital coupon events increased by 59.9 percent versus the same period in 2009 across key websites tracked by Marx, a Kantar Media solution.

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AdAge : Coupon Clipping Stages a Comeback

The recession didn't help many industries, but it may prove the savior of print coupons. Even consumers in their 20s and 30s appear to be adopting the coupon-clipping habit, defying what once looked like long odds, declining newspaper circulation and the growth of digital media. 

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AdAge : Hey, Groupon Clones, What's Your Marketing Strategy?

Having already achieved levels of success, Groupon and LivingSocial rely heavily on user discovery, communication, and online advertising to push their brands and names further into the market. In the battle of nomenclature, Groupon may have already won. What's the best way to describe your new daily deal, one deal a day, or social shopping site? For many, the words that convey the most meaning are, "Like Groupon." So if you're a Groupon clone, what is your online marketing strategy?

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New "Groupon Stores" Self Service Daily Deal Platform Allows Merchants to Create their Own Group Buy Deals

Groupon quietly launched its new self service daily deal platform, Groupon Stores, last week.  The story first hit the blogosphere on the midVentures blog. With a screenshot and the following quote from Groupon Chicago's sidebar about the new service:

“Groupon Stores is a place where your favorite, local businesses can sign up, create a store page, and post deals at anytime for you to see. Welcome to the future of Groupon.”

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Brandweek : Why More Brands Are Dangling Incentives on Facebook

Marketers—in this case, food marketers—are trying a new approach when it comes to winning followers: Online coupons and incentives that grow in value as more consumers “like” a brand on Facebook.
 
ConAgra Foods’ Healthy Choice, burger chain Jack in the Box and Barilla’s Wasa Crispbread are recent examples of brands that have been offering these digital incentives. It’s not a race to get more Facebook followers, the companies claim, but to create a sense of community and engagement among consumers.

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Off The Quad Hires New Managing Editor

Greenwood Village, CO, October 14, 2010 --(PR.com)-- Off The Quad (http://www.offthequad.com) has announced the hire of Michelle Doucette as managing editor to oversee editorial content for its emerging email-based publication, targeting college students nationally. Michelle brings an impressive background in journalism, editing and online community management to Off The Quad (OTQ), including past work with Travelocity and CNN International. Her entrance to the company is part of OTQ's national expansion strategy, since launching in early September.

“I'm thrilled to join the Off The Quad team in developing unique and engaging content for college markets,” Michelle continues. “I find the brand and its editorial vision incredibly compelling and am looking forward to seeing our content expand to drive its national growth.”

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College Market The Latest Craze in Group Buy "Gold Rush" : 14 Sites for Students Emerge

The latest Group Buy Gold rush is happening on America's College campuses as contenders large and small launch in hopes of establishing a foothold in what's expected to be a huge chunk of the group buy business: the College Market.

According to many sites like Groupon's own published demographics, college students comprise 10% or even more of their customers. As businesses become overwhelmed by deals targeting entire cities that sell "too well" it will continue to force group buy players to focus on better geographic and demographic targeting. The college market makes perfect sense as a receptive and accessible niche to target.

As of today, there are currently 14 Group Buy Websites targeting the college market listed in the Coupon Business Directory College Coupon Media Section. Compaines throwing their hat in the College Daily Deal Ring include well funded national start-ups, local bootstrappers and even established print companies like Entertainment.com's U Daily Deal.