Groupon to offer $1 deals for Groupon Now

The promotion celebrates Groupon Now's Chicago launch with hundreds of $1 deals across chicago

In celebration of the Chicago launch of Groupon Now, the company is announcing a huge promotion: $1 deals for hundreds of merchants all across Chicago. The promotion starts at 6 a.m. this Friday and will last for just 24 hours. But that doesn’t mean merchants will be standing by, watching their products flying off the shelves for 99% off. Rather, Groupon will be taking the loss.

“We’ve been working on Groupon Now! for a long time, and we’re giddy with excitement to finally launch,” said Andrew Mason, founder and CEO of Groupon, in a statement. “In fact, we’re so impatient for people to give it a try, we decided to make it easy by footing the bill ourselves this Friday.”

And then Groupon goes and throws in these subtle little quips that remind me why I fell in love with it: “The promotion is supported by print and radio advertising, as well as meta print and radio advertising via news stories mentioning the print and radio advertising.”

Some of the merchants teaming with Groupon for the $1 deals include Geja’s Café, Carson’s, Piece Brewery and Pizzeria, and 7-Eleven.

To re-cap, unlike typical Groupons, which usually run for 24 hours or more and can be used at any point until the expiration date several months or one year later, Groupon Now deals are instant and hourly, designed to run for a few hours or up to a day, max, thereby allowing merchants to pull customers into their stores during slow periods. And unlike traditional Groupons, which are only accessible after the deal closes, Groupon Now deals are instantly redeemable, so you can tap “Buy” as you order your pizza.

Groupon’s decision to take the loss is reminiscent of LivingSocial’s Amazon gift card promotion, in which LivingSocial offered $20 Amazon gift cards for $10 and took the entirety of the loss itself.