Sygic: GPS Navigation, the offline nav-and-map app for iOS and Android, has added some new third-party integrations for discovering nearby deals and parking options. Already glutted with online and offline additions over the course of the company’s decade-long history, the freemium Sygic app competes with Nokia HERE Drive, the offline nav-and-map app for Lumia devices. […]
Mountain View wants you to know that Google Offers isn’t another Groupon copycat; that’s why the service is now taking a different approach. Whereas you’ve previously had to pay for discount vouchers in advance, you can now clip them for free and then pay for purchases in-store, making Offers more convenient to use. The company’s also introducing coupons outside the main Offers app, adding them to Wallet, Maps and Search, as well as programming Google Now to flash a notification whenever you pass by a participating establishment. Here’s some even better news for veteran users, though: you can either get a refund for unused offers you’ve paid for, or get your money back as Google Play credit. If you go the latter route, you’ll get extra dollars on top — enough to jazz up your phone with SwiftKey or Photoshop Touch.
Via: AllThingsD
Source: Google Play, iTunes
For a lot of us, onions are just another food item, an ingredient used to make dishes, but in countries such as India, onions are an essential ingredient in a lot of their food to the extent that when Groupon India offered onions at a massive bargain, the demand for the item was so large that it actually crashed Groupon India’s website! The deal basically offered those living in India the opportunity to purchase onions at a price of 9 rupees per kilogram, which is about 15 cents for 2.2 pounds. It was so cheap that the site managed to sell 3,000 kilograms of onions in a mere 44 minutes, with the total amount of onions purchase amounting to 8,000 kilograms by the end of the week when the offered ended.
To put it into perspective, onions are typically sold in India at about 100 rupees per kilogram, and it is obvious that at 9 rupees per kilogram, it was a pretty good bargain. According to Ankur Warikoo, Groupon India’s CEO who spoke to Al Jazeera, “We wanted to sell it at a price that most of us have completely forgotten.” On a more serious note, it has been notedthat this massive demand highlights the plight of the Indian economy and its depreciating rupee and food shortage.
Groupon India’s Website Crashed After Onion Deal Is Too Good To Pass Up original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Groupon’s iOS app just scored a refresh this week, adding access to the firm’s new Reserve discount reservations platform via a dedicated tab. Savored users should be familiar with the concept: secure a spot at hit restaurants just as you can on OpenTable, but Groupon’s flavor packs a compelling value add. Instead of earning negligible points towards dining gift certificates, Savored (and now Groupon Reserve) members can snag discounts of up to 40 percent at select restaurants in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. The feature is now available in Groupon’s iOS app, which you can download (or update) at the source link below.
Via: The Next Web
Source: Groupon (iTunes)
Not satisfied with simply locking down your discount mountain-climbing lessons and hot stone massages, Groupon announced Groupon Reserve this morning, which aims to bundle time-based discounts with restaurant reservations. Groupon’s tapping Savored.com’s reservation tech to handle the heavy-lifting behind the scenes — the service is already live in 10 markets, including New York City and Los Angeles, and seemingly goes after OpenTable head-on.
Of course, Groupon Reserve isn’t quite the same service as OpenTable. With Reserve, you plug in a time, party size, date and city, and you’re offered a variety of restaurant options with discounts, whereas with OpenTable you’re simply plugging in the aforementioned info and looking for a spot. Though Groupon Reserve only handles restaurant reservations thus far, the plan is for “spas, salons and hotels” in the coming months; ambiguous options from “top beauty, product, travel and entertainment brands” are also in the cards. Groupon Reserve will reach international shores and even more US cities “by the end of 2013.” Now if you’ll excuse us, we’re arranging a more affordable date at Butter. We’re pretty fancy.
Yesterday, Groupon POS appeared in the iTunes Store, but was quickly pulled. Now we know why. Breadcrumb POS, which is the official name of yesterday’s leaked point-of-sale iPad app, is now officially available, bringing a simple interface and a handful of financial incentives. The application, which can be downloaded for free, charges vendors a credit card processing fee of 1.8 percent plus 15 cents per transaction, assuming you’re swiping plastic from MasterCard, Visa or Discover. In an effort to get small businesses signed up, however, Groupon is offering to cover the fees on the first $5,000 in credit card transactions, a savings of $90 by our calculations, plus whatever you’d be paying per swipe.
The app enables you to log transactions, manage menu items and issue refunds, in addition to processing credit cards and emailing receipts. The POS uses Breadcrumb Payments for processing, with deposits posting within 24 hours, and can be paired with a card swiper and optional printer (you can email receipts if you’d prefer). There’s also free 24/7 telephone support, should you run into any issues while using the system. Breadcrumb POS won’t replace the more sophisticated Pro version, which is available starting at $99 per month, and retailers will still be able to use the Groupon Merchants App for redeeming vouchers and processing supplemental payments. If the new Breadcrumb POS sounds like a fit, snag some more info at the source link below.
Filed under: Software
Source: Groupon
Last year, Groupon acquired Breadcrumb, a New York City-based startup known for its affordable iPad-based point-of-sale system. Now, a new Groupon-branded version of the tool, called POS, arrived in the iTunes store this morning, giving merchants a venue to process and track customer tabs, with a much simpler interface. The app, which appears to be a significantly dumbed-down version of Breadcrumb, is compatible with an optional cash drawer and printer, according to the iTunes listing, but doesn’t appear to offer advanced management functionality, such as time sheets and advanced reports (though basic stats are tracked). Groupon POS is available for download now at the source link below — subscription info is lacking, but based on the limited functionality here, we wouldn’t be surprised to hear that it’s free.
Update: Groupon has pulled the app from iTunes pending a future launch of the POS product, which will be released under a different name.
Filed under: Software
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Groupon POS (iTunes)
LivingSocial Inc. has just received another $110 million from its current group of investors who still have hope in the daily deals company. The investors are still fighting for LivingSocial, despite the whole $650 million net loss that it reported in 2012, as well as the $558 million loss it reported in 2011. The company had to lay off around 400 employees back in November, as well as its Senior Vice President, Dickson Chu, back in July.
LivingSocial CEO, Tim O’Shaughnessy sent an e-mail out to all of his employees saying that the $110 million investment will be used to “build our reserves, solidify our long-term plans and execute against our vision for the future”. This should provide a boost in morale for its employees, because if its investors are still willing to bet on it, there might still be hope yet.
The list of investors who shelled out $110 million wasn’t released, but Amazon could have been on that board. Amazon has a 30% stake in LivingSocial, and for one of the most successful e-commerce sites, it’s going to do its best to make sure its investment doesn’t go sour. O’Shaughnessy did say, however, that LivingSocial had multiple options for funding.
O’Shaughnessy has high hopes for this year, and has stated that by Springtime, LivingSocial will begin to see profits. LivingSocial isn’t the only daily deals site that’s having it rough. Groupon, the other well-known daily deals site, who 12 months after it went public, reported that their IPO pricing of $20 plummeted 88%. Hopefully with this newly acquired money, LivingSocial will be able to get itself out of its slump.
[via Washington Business Journal]
Investors give LivingSocial another $110 million is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
You’re not going to find anymore gun-related deals on Groupon, at least temporarily. The company says the entire fire arms category is under review: More »
Use Groupon Payments for your business? You just got a little more choice — the popular deal broker just updated its Android app to support credit card transactions. The update brings the fledgling payment service a little closer to Square, which has been available on Android since 2010. If the iOS rates hold, swiping plastic through Groupon Merchants will set retailers back a mere $0.15 per transaction, plus 1.8 percent of the charge for Visa, MasterCard and Discover, or three percent for American Express. The update also boasts improved analytics, giving retailers the ability to check transaction history, daily sales reports and peek at revenue trends. Budding business owners can check out official press release after the break.
Continue reading Groupon Payments comes to Android, starts catching up to Square
Filed under: Misc
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