Shopping Site Groupon Buys Germany's CityDeal

May 17, 2010 at 5:00 am PT

Groupon Inc., a website offering daily deals at businesses in the U.S. and Canada, is expanding into Europe by buying Berlin-based City Deal GmbH.

The deal, the terms of which weren’t disclosed, extends Chicago-based Groupon’s presence in a fast-growing e-commerce niche called social buying. Such services offer discounts to buyers that only become activated if a minimum number of customers agree to participate.

Groupon sends emails to users daily offering deals at local businesses.

Groupon charges the businesses for the service, an alternative to traditional advertising that helps attract customers.

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Tagged with: advertising, City Deal GmbH, digital, e-commerce, economy, emails, frontpage, Geoffrey A. Fowler, Groupon, social buying, The Wall Street Journal

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