Foursquare signs up five daily-deal sites
If check-in site can target deals based on its users' interests, its mobile and social distribution could potentially trump the e-mail lists and banner ads that daily-deals sites currently rely on.
Local social-app maker Foursquare has signed revenue-sharing distribution partnerships to target deals sites to its users' locations, the company will announce tomorrow and The Wall Street Journal is reporting tonight. We'd previously broken the news that Foursquare was in talks to strike such a deal with Groupon. That one is not finalized yet, but other partnerships with LivingSocial, Gilt Groupe, AT&T, Zozi, and BuyWithMe are.
These partnerships are a huge test for Foursquare, which has 10 million registered users but is working to move on from its early gamification tricks to "making the world easier to use." The company could potentially proactively target deals rather than waiting for users to manually check in.
If Foursquare can target relevant deals based on its users' interest in exploring the world around them, its mobile and social distribution could potentially be far more effective than the e-mail lists and banner ads that daily deals sites currently rely on.
However, Groupon is after the same goal with its new product Groupon Now.