Business Model Institute : Groupon Business Model vs. Val-Pak

For some, coupons are dead and are a relic of the older days. I’m a heavily Internet-connected late 30s tech-aware consumer and yet I still open my envelope of Val-Pak coupons. I look at each and every coupon and from time-to-time I keep a coupon or two.

This has me wonder if the Val-Pak business model can still survive in the age of Groupon? Are the business models of these seemingly different businesses really that different? Both companies want you to take them up on their offer and seek out the businesses they are effectively advertising and promoting.

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Tippr Adds Google Offers to Growing List of Affiliate Partners for White-Label Daily Deal Platform

TIPPR™, the premier provider of group buying solutions, today announced a partnership with Google Offers that will leverage Google’s trusted brand and extensive reach to expand the distribution of TIPPR deals to new cities, beginning in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Google Offers service, which sends local, personalized deals of the day to subscribers email inboxes, launched in June and has quickly expanded to additional cities nationwide. With this partnership, Google Offers subscribers gain access to deals provided by TIPPR.com.

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Appolicious : Yipit’s personalized daily deal aggregator goes mobile

It’s called Yipit.com and the personalized deal aggregator has recently arrived for iPhone and iPod Touch in the form of Yipit Deals — Daily Deals, Sales and Coupons.

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Tippr Blog : Daily Deals Are Not Dead

Don’t let the media noise drown out the core appeal of local deals: that, for the first time, the Internet, social media, email and mobile now have a successful, measureable method by which to drive millions of people online to do something offline. To get out from in front of their computers and experience their local community.  Deal programs are the first product to truly make that magical marriage of advertising and consumption work.

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Bloomberg: Groupon Files to Raise $750 Million in IPO After Coupon Site’s Sales Surge

As early as March, Groupon was in talks with bankers about an IPO that would value the company at as much as $25 billion, people familiar with the matter said at the time. Groupon is benefiting from demand for daily coupons, which provide discounts at local businesses like restaurants and nail salons.

“You need to have a war chest,” said Sandeep Aggarwal, an analyst with Caris & Co. in San Francisco. “You need to have that access to capital to maintain that level of growth.”

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Multichannel Merchant : Facebook and Google Getting In On Daily Deals

Speaking earlier this month at the Daily Deal Summit in New York, Yipit co-founder/CEO Vinicius Vacanti said both Facebook and Google have shown signs that they want to enter the rapidly-growing flash sales space.

Facebook has shown it can be a social aggregator, which is Yipit's role in the Daily Deal industry. That means Facebook is collecting deals from business partners including Gilt City and HomeRun.com and relying on Facebook users to share their enthusiasm and experience with their friends.

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Cat Lovers on Campus? 17 Things to Consider Before Launching A Daily Deals Site

In a few short years, Groupon slapped a buy button on a website, hired some sales people, and is now reportedly making $760 million annually with a multi-billion dollar valuation.

Easy, right?  I mean there are 600+ new group buy sites and new ones popping up every day.  Got a great idea for a daily deal site?  (My favorite thus far is the niche site at the cross section of Cat-Lovers on Campus)

Before you get too carried away and quit your job to set up shop in your garage, here’s 17 things to consider:

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All Things Digital : Will Groupon’s Super Bowl Ad Be a Touchdown or a Fumble?

Groupon is spending an estimated $3 million on a Super Bowl ad this weekend to spread the word beyond its user base of 50 million subscribers.

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Daily Deal Media : LivingSocial CEO: We’re Set to Pass Groupon in 2011

The game is heating up big time and the last couple of months have shown us that things can change quickly. We have to wonder if Groupon can maintain their position and for how long. Can LivingSocial indeed overtake them to claim the top position? They have a ways to go but it does look like a possibility. Our thoughts on Groupon? In the immortal words of Shakespeare, “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown”.

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Business Insider : Meet Jdeal, A Jewish Groupon

No, this isn't a joke. Or at least, it doesn't seem like it. New York entrepreneurs have started a site called Jdeal, which is a Groupon Clone for the Jewish community, AdWeek reports

What's the rationale? Groupon doesn't carry many kosher deals -- fair enough. Another point is that small businesses might be more interested in doing deals knowing customers are more likely to return, which would be the case for Jewish businesses and Jewish customers. Maybe.

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