Now Groupon's offering deals on groceries

On the heels of Groupon Getaways, Groupon Now, and the Groupon IPO, Groupon

If Groupon was a person, it would be your annoying college roommate who’s a double-major in literature and bioengineering, plays lacrosse, and still finds time to volunteer on the weekends. That asshole can do anything...

Just days after announcing its new vacations feature, Groupon Getaways (for which it teamed up with Expedia), the Renaissance company is trying something new: groceries. Groupon has teamed up with grocery store chain Big Y Foods, marketing company HaloEffect, and consumer behavior analytics company Incentive Targeting to introduce deals for grocery retail items and consumer packaged goods using customer loyalty cards. The project will utilize Incentive Targeting’s retail shopper and marketing technology, HaloEffect’s agency creative and grocery marketing know-how, and Big Y’s loyalty program to deliver grocery deals.

Big Y Foods, which is headquartered in Springfield, MA and has 61 locations, is running the first Groupon grocery offer in Springfield, MA on a new Shellfish Grill Pack, which normally retails for $39.99 and is being offered for $24, a discount of 40%. This is interesting as Groupon normally offers deals of 50% or more. The company is not sharing its minimum deal cutoff amount for the grocery deals.

So how does it work? For the Shellfish Grill Pack (which includes lobster tails, mussels, clams, and more—lucky Springfielders), a user can purchase the deal, enter his/her Big Y Express Saving Club membership number, and the deal is automatically loaded onto that person’s loyalty card. When the shopper goes to the grocery store to pick up the item and hands over the loyalty card, the deal is automatically credited.

Groupon’s new grocery deals will use Incentive Targeting’s retail shopper and marketing technology, which includes a self-service Web-based application to create and manage behaviorally targeted promotions, thereby helping brands and chains identify and influence consumer behavior. Additionally, Incentive Targeting’s patent-pending shopper marketing platform will allow consumer packaged goods and grocery retail chains monitor their promotions in real-time and gauge their effectiveness, including how many new shoppers have engaged with it.

HaloEffect, a long-time partner with Groupon, will be bringing its marketing expertise to the new project. HaloEffect has been working with Groupon to deliver local deals since 2009.

“Consumers in the US spend over $550 billion a year on groceries, and CPG companies devote $35 billion annually to marketing and promotion,” said Tom Schneider, President of HaloEffect, in a statement. “We see this partnership having the potential to revolutionize the grocery marketing landscape.”

For now, the grocery partnership is exclusive to Big Y Foods, so Groupon is not offering nationwide grocery deals. But hey, people need their groceries, so Groupon could branch out and partner with other grocery retailers to offer grocery deals.