New Groupon and Square Partnership Allows Local Merchants to Create Groupon Campaigns Directly from the Square App Marketplace

Rhea-AI Summary

Groupon has partnered with Square to enable local merchants to create marketing campaigns directly on Groupon through Square's App Marketplace. This integration simplifies the customer journey by allowing Square's Beauty and Wellness and Things to Do merchants to use Square Appointments for their Groupon promotions. Groupon aims to enhance the merchant experience, reduce acquisition costs, and expand inventory quality. Currently, all Square merchants in the U.S. can access this integration, which potentially opens up new opportunities for growth and customer engagement.

Positive

• Partnership with Square enhances marketing capabilities for local merchants.
• Integration simplifies customer journey from purchase to appointment booking.
• Aims to lower merchant acquisition costs through self-service tools.
• Expansion of high-quality, restriction-free inventory on Groupon platform.

Negative

• None.

Integration between local commerce leaders also enables merchants to leverage Square Appointments booking capabilities for their Groupon campaigns

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Today, Groupon, the go-to destination for local experiences, and Square announced a partnership that makes it easy for local merchants to leverage Square’s App Marketplace to create marketing campaigns on Groupon to promote their businesses. The integration will also allow Square’s Beauty and Wellness and Things to Do merchants to leverage the booking capabilities of Square Appointments for any Groupon campaigns they create, making the customer journey from purchase to booking to redemption more seamless.

A new partnership between Groupon and Square enables local merchants to create Groupon campaigns directly from the Square App Marketplace. (Graphic: Business Wire)

“We’re laser-focused on improving the merchant experience, and by teaming up with Square, we are creating a new ecosystem that will make it easier than ever for the local businesses that use Square to launch new campaigns on Groupon,” said Groupon’s Chief Commercial Officer Brian Fields. “In addition, this partnership is aligned with our goals to lower merchant acquisition costs through self-service, expand inventory and improve the merchant and customer experiences. This partnership is another great example of how we’re bringing more high quality, bookable inventory to the Groupon marketplace, and we’re excited to explore other opportunities in the future with Square to help local merchants.”

Since the launch of the company’s growth strategy, Groupon has demonstrated progress by:

• Making wholesale changes to the way it works with merchants to bring more high-quality, restriction-free inventory onto the Groupon platform
• Expanding merchant self-service capabilities to make it easier for local businesses to create, update and manage their campaigns
• Launching a new user experience in North America to bring the company’s expanded inventory front and center
• Kicking off a new brand campaign titled “Grab Life by the Groupon” that repositions the Groupon brand as the go-to destination for local experiences

“By partnering with Groupon, Square is providing sellers with access to the tools they need to promote their businesses, attract new customers, and increase sales," said Willem Ave, GM of Square Appointments. “Square's Booking API enables businesses to unlock a new, integrated channel to drive round-the-clock bookings, while also offering enhanced customer experience to buyers who can now seamlessly purchase and book appointments all from one place.”

The ability to connect directly with Groupon via Square is now available to all Square merchants in the United States. Local businesses interested in taking advantage of the partnership can do so through the following steps:

• Visit the Groupon app under the Marketing & Analytics category of the Square App Marketplace
• Create or Connect their Groupon Merchant account and sync with Square Seller account
• Choose the right Groupon campaign structure that meets the needs of your business and launch your pay-for-performance promotion to Groupon’s 15 million active customers in North America*
• Leverage Groupon’s proprietary Merchant Advisor Tool to gain insights on performance and new recommendations to drive further growth

Groupon and Square are exploring ways to launch their partnership in other countries and expand the combined feature set to more types of businesses in the future.

*As of Sept. 30, 2021

Note on Forward-Looking Statements

The statements contained in this release that refer to plans and expectations for the next quarter, the full year or the future are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements regarding our future results of operations and financial position, business strategy and plans and our objectives for future operations. The words "may," "will," "should," "could," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "intend," "continue" and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We have based these forward looking statements largely on current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy, short-term and long-term business operations and objectives, and financial needs. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic or other pandemics or disease outbreaks on our business; our ability to execute, and achieve the expected benefits of, our go-forward strategy; execution of our business and marketing strategies; volatility in our operating results; challenges arising from our international operations, including fluctuations in currency exchange rates, legal and regulatory developments in the jurisdictions in which we operate; global economic uncertainty; retaining and adding high quality merchants; retaining existing customers and adding new customers; competing successfully in our industry; providing a compelling mobile experience for our customers; managing refund risks; retaining and attracting members of our executive team and other qualified personnel; customer and merchant fraud; payment-related risks; our reliance on email, internet search engines and mobile application marketplaces to drive traffic to our marketplace; cybersecurity breaches; maintaining and improving our information technology infrastructure; reliance on cloud-based computing platforms; completing and realizing the anticipated benefits from acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures and strategic investments; lack of control over minority investments; managing inventory and order fulfillment risks; claims related to product and service offerings; protecting our intellectual property; maintaining a strong brand; the impact of future and pending litigation; compliance with domestic and foreign laws and regulations, including the CARD Act, GDPR and regulation of the Internet and e-commerce; classification of our independent contractors or employees; exposure to greater than anticipated tax liabilities; adoption of tax legislation; our ability to raise capital if necessary; risks related to our access to capital and outstanding indebtedness, including our convertible senior notes; our common stock, including volatility in our stock price; our ability to realize the anticipated benefits from the capped call transactions relating to our convertible senior notes; and those risks and other factors discussed in Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 and Part II, Item 1A. Risk Factors of our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2021, June 30, 2021 and September 30, 2021, and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), copies of which may be obtained by visiting the company's Investor Relations web site at investor.groupon.com or the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov. Groupon's actual results could differ materially from those predicted or implied and reported results should not be considered an indication of future performance.

You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Although Groupon believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee that the future results, levels of activity, performance or events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur. Moreover, neither Groupon nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements reflect our expectations as of the date of this release. We undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason after the date of this release to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations.

About Groupon: Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN) is an experiences marketplace where consumers discover fun things to do and local businesses thrive. For our customers, this means giving them an amazing selection of experiences at great values. For our merchants, this means making it easy for them to partner with Groupon and reach millions of consumers around the world.

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View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211105005466/en/

Groupon

Nick Halliwell

Press@groupon.com

Source: Groupon

FAQ

What is the recent partnership between Groupon and Square?

Groupon has partnered with Square to enable local merchants to create marketing campaigns on Groupon using Square's App Marketplace.

How does the Groupon and Square integration benefit local merchants?

Merchants can leverage Square Appointments for booking capabilities, making the customer journey more seamless.

When did Groupon announce its partnership with Square?

The partnership was announced on November 5, 2021.

What is the stock symbol for Groupon?

The stock symbol for Groupon is GRPN.

How can Square merchants leverage Groupon's platform?

Square merchants can create or connect their Groupon Merchant account to launch pay-for-performance promotions to Groupon's 15 million active customers.