Location-based service Foursquare is adding a new marketing component to its popular mobile apps.
Soon, the startup will be incorporating daily deals from partners such as Groupon, LivingSocial, Gilt Groupe and others into its product.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Foursquare co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley stated the company would be passing on daily coupons from these marketing partners to the service’s users — and taking a cut of the revenue along the way.
“We are trying to see if our targeting works and how users will react,” Crowley told the Journal.
Currently, Foursquare partners directly with around half a million merchants, many of them small and medium-sized businesses, who use the service as a marketing medium. Through these accounts, merchants are able to deliver specials, including discounts and freebies, to users who check in at their locations.
However, merchants don’t pay for the privilege, and Foursquare makes no money from these merchant-initiated specials.
Foursquare recently passed the 10 million user milestone. The startup also raised a $50 million Series C just last month.
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