Groupon Adds Location-based Deals for Mobile Users

Groupon has updated its iOS and Android apps to automatically offer location-based deals to its users anywhere in the world.

The UX has been tidied up across the different platforms and people can now send gift deals from the app. The company has also released its iPad app in Austria, Chile, Colombia, French Canada, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Russia and Thailand.

In Q2, a record 7.5m people downloaded the Groupon app, bringing total downloads to more than 50m. In North America, nearly half of Groupons transactions were completed on mobile, compared with 30 per cent a year earlier. Its mobile customers here purchase more frequently and spend more than web-only users, the company said. Despite this mobile growth, Groupon posted a $7.6m (£4.76m) loss for the quarter.

A Groupon spokesperson told Mobile Marketing: “We’re focused on migrating from a daily deal email business to a true marketplace, where local, mobile and deals combine to build the place people start when they want to buy anything, anytime, anywhere. We’re also excited by the huge mobile opportunity we see in the UK.”

The number of mobile transactions made is lower in the rest of the world than it is in the US but the company says it is growing at a faster rate.