Groupon, a website that features daily deals on “the best stuff to do, see, eat, and buy in 43 countries,” is launching a loyalty program for merchants to reward frequent visitors, the Chicago Tribune reports.
The program, called Groupon Rewards, is intended to help local businesses improve retention among new customers generated by daily deal promotions.
With the rewards program, a customer who spends a certain amount of money at a merchant across any number of visits unlocks a voucher that can be spent at that business. The merchant is responsible for setting the spending goal and value of the voucher.
To participate in the program, consumers must opt in and put a debit or credit card on file. An automated system tracks spending on the card and unlocks the voucher when the spending goal has been reached. Merchants are not required to run a regular daily deal to participate in the program.
According to the Tribune, Jeff Holden, Groupon's senior vice president of product, said the rewards program completes a trio of merchant tools. Daily deals are meant for customer acquisition, while Groupon Now, a real-time service launched in May, helps local businesses manage demand during specific times of the day. The third component is "loyalty and retention," said Holden. "This was the missing piece, and that's why we built it," Holden said.
Groupon Rewards is free for customers and merchants. The program will debut in Philadelphia in October and roll out to other cities at a later time.
