Update: Hey, looky there! Groupon themselves finally blogged about this. If I had to be honest, I'd say my post is a little more informative, but, you know, they're busy rolling around in piles of money from their recent IPO :P Groupon added new personalization options today, allowing users to add more than one location to their profile as well as indicate what types of deals they're looking for. In a first for Groupon, as reported by tech blog Mashable, merchants will have an opportunity to target old deals at new consumers matching a certain profile. Presumably, merchants could use this to connect with people that have a good chance of becoming repeat customers, influencers, or otherwise a good match for the business.
The Deal Types -- their official name -- form more of a matchmaking system than a category system. Rather than choose specific categories like Vegetarian Restaurants or Comic Book Stores, users are encouraged to "heart" options like these:
- Bring the Kids
- Good for Gifting
- Sporting Life
- Girls Night Out
Adding a Deal Type to your profile will highlight deals of the same type elsewhere on Groupon.com, such as on the All Deals overview page.
With fewer than half of previous Groupon merchants indicating they'd use it again, it makes sense Groupon would add ways for the right kind of customers to find the right kind of deals. If Groupon's new Deal Types and Places can help independent businesses turn Groupon customers into returning customers, it's a win for everybody.
Speaking personally, I could see this type of preference-based system help Groupon appeal to a different type of consumer entirely. I've bought a handful of Daily Deals in the past (mostly for movie tickets), but I'm not exactly an adventurous consumer. Having the ability to browse Groupon's deals on my own terms and have a better idea if the deal matches my interests might entice me to explore more of their deals.