25% of Groupons purchased in December were bought on a mobile device

"Groupon today announced record mobile performance in North America in December 2011 with one quarter of all Groupon vouchers purchased via a mobile device and both consumer and merchant app usage up significantly year over year.
December 2011 North American Mobile Performance:
25% of Groupons were purchased on a mobile device
Mobile app users increased by more than three times from last December to over nine million
More than 12,000 merchant partners used Groupon's merchant mobile app to redeem vouchers and track purchases using an iOS device or an Android phone."

Source:  Press release from Groupon, 27th February 2012

LivingSocial made a net loss of $588m in 2011

"LivingSocial’s financial results for the past year were reported by Amazon today, revealing that the company continues to trail behind Groupon by a wide margin.
Amazon, which has a 31 percent stake in the second-largest daily deals company, released the figures as part of its quarterly filing today with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
It said LivingSocial’s 2011 net loss totaled $558 million on revenues of $245 million."

Source:  AllThingsD, 1st February 2012

Groupon's IPO values the company at $12.65bn

"Groupon raised $700m in its highly anticipated initial public offering on Thursday night, overcoming a host of investor concerns to break through in a difficult market for US IPOs.
The pricing at $20 a share valued the group at $12.65bn. The valuation was above its range of $10bn-$11bn, but below the valuation it had been seeking earlier this year of closer to $20bn."

Source:  Financial Times, 4th November 2011

Online coupons drive incremental business

"Online coupons and promotion codes drive incremental business: Offering coupons and deals generates new users and increases overall user spending. Active coupon users reported spending over $800 more per year with e-commerce merchants than less active coupon users ($1,850 versus $1,025). In addition, 74% of active coupon users indicated that they would be likely to try a new brand if they received a coupon or promotion code versus 54% of less active coupon users.
Online coupons and promotion codes positively influence the purchase cycle by reducing shopping cart abandonment, improving conversion rates and reinforcing positive feelings about brands. Additionally, 88% of respondents said that promo codes or coupons “close the deal” on their decision to make a purchase.
Reduced shopping cart abandonment: 60% of respondents indicated that if they received an online coupon or promotion code they would be more likely to reconsider purchasing a product that they had put in their shopping cart but had not bought.
Improved brand loyalty and reputation: 80% of respondents indicated that offering online coupons or promotion codes improves a company’s brand image, with an impressive 88% of respondents saying that they have positive feelings toward companies that offer coupons."

Source:  Research by Forrester Consulting for Whaleshark Media, reported in a press release, 5th October 2011

There are nearly 250,000 NFC-enabled tills in the US

"Google has linked up with Citigroup bank, MasterCard, the mobile carrier Sprint, till maker First Data, and 15 retailers from pharmacies to McDonald's and Macy's department stores. By the end of this year Bedier says many of the largest retailers will be on board, each with thousands of terminals installed, all equipped with so-called near field communications touch pads, which create a wireless connection between two devices close to each other.
The US already has 230,000 readers at tills, and there will be tens of thousands more by Christmas. "We are excited about the amount of usage compared to our original expectations," says Bedier. The triallists use their mobile wallets daily or weekly, for smaller purchases: fast food, prescription drugs, clothes, cosmetics and small small electronic goods."

Source:  The Guardian, 17th September 2011

The estimated breakdown of revenues for UK daily deal sites

Click to enlarge

Source:  Data from daily deal aggregator Siftie.co.uk, reported in TechCrunch, 30th August 2011

72% of people active on Twitter daily publish blog posts at least once a month

"Who are Twitter users and why are they so important to your brand?
Of the users who are active on Twitter daily:
72% publish blog posts at least once a month
70% comment on others’ blog posts
61% write at least one product review a month
61% comment on news sites
56% write articles for third-party sites
53% post videos online
50% make contributions to wiki sites
48% share deals found through coupon forums
In essence: What happens on Twitter doesn’t stay on Twitter."

Source:  Data from Exact Target, reported by The Next Web, 18th August 2011

Groupon's quarterly losses trebled Y-o-Y in Q2 2011

"Daily deals juggernaut Groupon managed to significantly slash marketing costs last quarter, but its net loss in the second quarter of this year has almost tripled compared to last year as it hired more than 1,000 new employees, according to an SEC filing published this morning. Basically, the company is still growing like gangbusters but losing money like crazy in the process.
The updated financial details show that Groupon increased revenue from $3.3 million in Q2 2009 to $878 million in the second quarter of 2011, while net income swung from $21,000 for the second quarter of 2009 to a staggering net loss of $102.7 million for the second quarter of 2011.
The reported net loss is in line with the first quarter of 2011 but nearly triple the $36 million loss from Q2 2010. Groupon hired more than 1,000 employees in the 3-month period – growing its sales force to more than 4,800 people – which caused a serious bump in ‘general and administrative expenses’.
In total, Groupon grew from 37 employees as of June 2009 to 9,625 employees as of June 2011."

Source:  SEC filing from Groupon, reported by TechCrunch, 10th August 2011

Only 20% of Groupon subscribers have ever made a purchase

"Here’s the deal:
Groupon had 115.7 million subscribers at the end of June.
Of those subscribers, only about 20 percent — or 23 million — have ever made a purchase. Those are called cumulative customers.
The average subscriber (not customer) spent $18 in the first half of the year, down from $21 last year.
The average customer over the lifetime of a membership has purchased four Groupons, up from three a year ago.
The average revenue per Groupon sold in the first half of the year was $25, up from $23 in the same period 2010.
The number of merchants Groupon worked with in the first half of 2011 increased to 135,247, up from only 12,468 in the first half of 2010.
Converting subscribers into customers will be key for Groupon in order to justify its high marketing costs."

Source:  Figures revealed by Groupon as part of it's Q2 2011 results, reported by AllThingsD, 10th August 2011

82% of American Groupon merchants are unsatisfied with repeat business from coupon users

Satisfied 17%
Unsatisfied 82%
Unsure 1%

Click to enlarge

Source:  Based on 300 telephone interviews by CM Copywriters, 12th July 2011
Note - more stats and charts in the original article

56% of US companies that use daily deals make a profit on the deal

"—The study surveyed 324 businesses across 23 U.S. markets that participated in daily deal promotions between August 2009 and March 2011. 55.5 percent of those businesses reported making money on the deal, 26.6 percent lost money, and 17.9 percent broke even.
[...]
—On average, nearly 80 percent of deal users were new customers for the business, but just 35.9 percent of them spent more than the deal’s face value. 19.9 percent returned to the business to make a full-priced purchase. OpenTable does better with repeat customers: 51.9 percent of OpenTable deal users were new customers, and 30 percent of OpenTable deal users came to the restaurant again.
—21.7 percent of deal buyers never actually redeemed the deals they purchased. On the one hand, that’s a good thing for the business offering the daily deal: Non-redemption makes the deal more profitable for them. On the other hand, when deal buyers don’t redeem the deal, businesses don’t get the exposure they sought in the first place. The report recommends, “To increase the likelihood of a profitable promotion, businesses should consider offering a daily deal of relatively high face value ($50 or more), with a shallow discount (at most 25% off face value), a short redemption period (three months or less), and place a maximum limit on number of deal vouchers that consumers can buy.”"

Source:  Research from Rice University Business School, reported by PaidContent, 14th June 2011

The demographics of US Groupon & LivingSocial users

Click to enlarge

Source:  Data from comScore, reported by Clickz, 13th June 2011
Note - more stats available in the original article