Groupon

Groupon runs a two-sided local commerce marketplace. On one side, consumers use Groupon to discover discounted activities, services, goods, and travel offers. On the other, merchants use Groupon to acquire customers by listing deals and managing voucher-driven campaigns. Groupon creates value by aggregating consumer demand, packaging merchant offers into a searchable marketplace, and converting that traffic into transactions. It extends the model with self-serve merchant tooling and paid promotional placements that increase merchant visibility inside its owned marketplace.

Groupon, Inc. operates a consumer-facing marketplace focused on discounted local services, experiences, travel offers, and products, primarily distributed through its website and mobile app. Consumers browse and purchase deals, then redeem digital vouchers with participating merchants. The business sits between local merchants seeking demand generation and consumers seeking price-led discovery.

Groupon also provides merchant-facing software and paid promotion tools through its Merchant Center and Ads for Campaigns products. These tools allow businesses to launch and manage offers, redeem vouchers, review performance data, and buy additional sponsored visibility on a cost-per-click basis inside the Groupon ecosystem. Groupon therefore makes money through transaction commissions on deals sold and advertising revenue from merchants paying for extra exposure.