Groupon is apparently looking to enter the lucrative (and ever competitive) mobile payments market. According to some source, the daily deals site is testing a Square-like service in the Bay Area, providing select merchants with a card reader and iPod Touch (whereas other companies are offering a card reader, only).
The pricing is extremely aggressive, with Groupon charging 15 cents + 1.8% per transaction or 2.7% for AmEx card transactions. That’s considerably lower than Square’s 2.75% and PayPal Here’s 2.7%, hinting us they have bold plans for this business unit.
As far as I’ve understood, the system is in a private beta test and Groupon’s representatives declining to comment on the new service.
When mixed with Groupon’s existing deals service, the company may have a solid plan, earning money at multiple points – both when customers are buying a coupon and when visiting restaurant, bar or wherever they happen to be going as a result of their coupon purchase.
Sounds like a plan, though I’m not sure it will be enough to significantly grow Groupon’s business and meet shareholders’ expectations. We’ll see…
[Via: VentureBeat]