12 January 2011
Chicago-based Groupon, the pioneering operator of collective buying websites in 35 countries, has launched Groupon South Africa through the acquisition of local website Twangoo for an undisclosed sum.
At the same time, Groupon has announced the acquisition of India’s SoSata and Israel’s Grouper, which will become Groupon India and Groupon Israel respectively.
All three sites will transition to the Groupon brand name and site design in the coming months, and will serve deals in the local communities’ primary languages – English in India and South Africa and Hebrew in Israel.
“Collective buying is in its infancy in India, Israel and South Africa and we see strong potential,” Groupon chief operating officer Rob Solomon said in a statement this week. “Groupon is shaping the way local merchants market themselves in every corner of the world.”
Collective buying websites negotiate discounts on popular goods and services, and then offer the deal to their subscribers in daily emails. These deals are only activated when a minimum number of people agree to purchase the product or service.
If not enough subscribers offer to purchase the product or service, the deal is off and subscribers are not charged anything.
“By using the web to give consumers buying power through the leverage of groups, Twangoo is a great way to find new and exciting things to do at an unbeatable value,” Twangoo founder and CEO Daniel Guasco said at the launch of the website in Cape Town in July 2010.
“By joining the club – for which there is no cost – you become one of a few with access to preferential deals at Cape Town’s trendiest restaurants, concerts, events, lessons, tours, spas, salons, retail shops, and much more, all with such value that it will be hard to pass up,” he said at the time.
Since then, the site has offered subscribers discounted deals in Johannesburg, Durban and Pietermaritzburg, and is set to expand to Pretoria, Port Elizabeth, East London and Bloemfontein.
SAinfo reporter
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