Facebook squares up to Groupon with daily deals

Facebooks new deals feature is scheduled to launch today to offer customers another choice in the daily deals marketplace.

Facebook is to enter the daily deals marketplace with a Groupon-style service.


Users will be able to use virtual currency like Facebook credits, as well as credit cards, to purchase vouchers from the service.


The move follows Facebook’s addition of location-based deals to its Places function in November 2010, an offering that was rolled out to Canada and key European markets in early 2011.


Its new daily deals will not be tied to users’ Places check-ins, and require users to sign up. Facebook members in San Francisco, Austin, Dallas, Atlanta and San Diego will be able to sign up for the service from April 26.


If the service is well received, it will almost certainly be rolled out into other cities and countries. Like Groupon, it could soon enter the travel sector, providing another method for purchasing travel online.