Groupon to ramp up holiday purchases with Epic Deals

Daily deals service Groupon plans to boost its end-of-year profits by pushing sales during the upcoming holiday season.

Groupon, which generates revenue by taking a cut of local and national deals it arranges for subscribers, began its first holiday push last year called Grouponicus, which offered mostly small-scale deals targeted at 15 major cities in the U.S. This year the company is broadening its strategy to include 41 major cities in the U.S. and Canada, according to a report by Reuters.

The company plans to offer larger-scale deals this year. Beginning Nov. 15, Groupon will roll out its new “Epic Deals” — deals that focus on specific experiences, like an around-the-world travel excursion. The company is also planning on offering many more national deals rather than smaller local deals, which don’t bring in nearly as much money for the company.

And to fit more in line with the mentality of gift giving, the new Grouponicus holiday offers will only show the value of the service or item on a voucher. The price paid for the deal will be omitted. However, it won’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how much someone spent on a gifted Groupon deal. Most Groupons offer services and goods at half the value of the regular price. (So for example, if you got $100 credit for a massage, the likely amount spent was probably about $50.)

The shift in holiday strategy for Groupon is logical, especially after the company received plenty of criticism just prior to launching an initial public offering. Many critics questioned the company’s ability to generate a profit because it was too focused on smaller deals. Groupon launched its IPO Nov. 4 to much success — raising about $700 million with the company valued at an estimated $15 billion.

In addition to revising its holiday strategy to boost profits, Groupon has pledged to replace the least performing salespeople in the company and has launched a new Groupon Reserve high-end deals service.