AOL enters Deal Of The Day market Place

Pioneered by Groupon, a service that sends its approximately two million members a coupon each day offering a discount at a local merchant; deal of the day market has fostered hundreds of clones in recent times. Groupon’s idea has good for everyone-- Consumers get a deal. Merchants get increased foot traffic, some of which they hope to convert into loyalty.

No surprise, this year, Groupon is expected to rake in $350 million or more. And earlier in 2010, the property was valued at $1 billion when it obtained $135 million in capital from Digital Sky Technologies, which is also an investor in social networking gamer Zynga.

Now another entrant, this time a big name is entering the Deal market-- The AOL.

AOl has made its offering public today on a "coming soon" page.

It’s obvious that AOL will bring much of the features top deal sites have; but one notable addition in the mix is the “personal deal”. This is how AOL defines personal Deal-- "If you want a deal, we listen and offer up your bargain-of-choice on a silver platter at an astronomically discounted price, helping you stretch your hard-earned dollar to infinity and beyond”. Al right this seems to be like the Google offer which informs a searcher that its group of experts can search the thing, the users himself can’t find.

Now with AOL coming in direct competion with Groupon, it’s to be seen what succeeds –AOL’s of distribution muscle through its homepage, AOL Mail, and growing network of local Patch sites (which could be a perfect place to promote local deals); or Groupon’s being a pioneer. --------

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