Today we’re announcing something really, really big – Groupon is now in Europe via the acquisition of Citydeal, the world’s largest Groupon clone. That means we’re operating in 18 countries, 140 cities, and we have over 900 employees in about a dozen offices across two continents. Not bad for 19 months’ work!
In addition to the US and Canada, you’ll now find Groupon in Germany, the UK, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Finland, Denmark, Turkey, Sweden, and soon, Norway and Belgium.
What it means
To me, Groupon is one of those beautiful examples of what an early, uncharted, and exciting time this is in the age of the Internet – that such a simple concept could change the face of local commerce almost overnight. Since its launch in Berlin five months ago, Citydeal’s rapid growth across Europe has proven that the Groupon model is truly global – and by coming together, we are establishing Groupon as the company that not only invented, but now universally defines this new model of commerce.
Why we did it this way
We knew that bringing Groupon to Europe wouldn’t be easy. Just adapting Groupon to suit the differences between Miami and Philadelphia is enough of a challenge that we knew we wouldn’t be able to succeed in Europe without amazing entrepreneurs with an intimate understanding of the local cultures.
With that in mind, we started meeting with the horde of European Groupon clones, looking for a team that would do Groupon justice in Europe. Unfortunately, we found them to be very much like the American knockoffs – without the strategic vision or operational chops to do much more than watch us and play Simon Says.
When we met Oliver Samwer – one of the founders of Citydeal – we were prepared for more of the same. Oliver and his two brothers are known for elevating the practice of cloning American business models in Europe into an art form, having successfully founded the German versions of eBay (eBay eventually bought them), Facebook, eHarmony, Zappos, and many more.
But after a few days with Oliver and the rest of the Citydeal management team, we realized that they were among the best operators we’d ever met. It was no wonder they’d become #1 in every one of their countries – in only five months, they’d even become larger than the largest Groupon knockoff in the U.S. It’s absolutely insane how quickly they’ve scaled, with 600 employees working from 80+ European cities, and already saving their customers over $5 million in April alone – their fourth month of operation.
Culturally, we saw the same qualities in the Citydeal team that we have at Groupon. Hardworking and scrappy, blindingly fast executors, refreshingly blunt, no appetite for petty politics, and passionate about pioneering a new model of commerce while wowing every last consumer and merchant they touched.
For those reasons, we think Groupon and Citydeal are a great match.
What happens now
It’ll take months for us to fully integrate Citydeal onto the Groupon platform, but they will adopt our name and design very soon. Until we’re fully integrated, you’ll need a separate account to buy Groupons in, say, Paris and Wichita.
For those of you who are already Citydeal consumers and merchants, welcome to Groupon! We have some amazing things planned over the next several months, but we’d also love to hear what you’d like us to do to make Groupon better – send us your thoughts!
Hiro Maeda
onMay 16, 2010 2:30 pm
Awesome! Congratulations!
Are you guys thinking about coming to Japan?
-Hiro
P.S. I own groupon.jp
Thomas
onMay 16, 2010 2:44 pm
Great Deal within 7 months. Chapeau.
Love your concept!
Brian
onMay 16, 2010 3:28 pm
Please add more language options! I live in the US, but Im visiting Italy. I dont speak Italian, but it would be nice to get deals while in Italy. So please add more languages to each city!
Dree
onMay 16, 2010 4:20 pm
Really? Wow. That’s great. Paris in the springtime was made for Groupon.
Doug
onMay 16, 2010 10:19 pm
Congratulations! Have you got any plans for Asia – particularly Japan?
Nick
onMay 16, 2010 10:32 pm
Its about time Andrew Mason stopped wittering on about “clones” and “knockoffs” grew up a bit and referred to his competitors as what they are, competitors. Does he really think he has a god given right to the global concept of group buying. There are other countries out there Andrew other than America. Citydeals only intention from the outset was to sell the business to Groupon. My guess is that this sale will prove to be as good as the US subprime property portfolios that was dumped on the rest of the world by America. Well Andrew welcome to Britain. As the owner of Wowcher.co.uk I welcome you. The way I see it is that we simply have a re-named competitor who at least might raise awareness of the whole concept, spend loads of cash advertising and generate a ton of free publicity for us. You wont get your usual 50% commission here either, at least not if you want to compete with your competitors.
K.
onMay 17, 2010 12:14 am
Impressive growth, but I have to agree with Nick that you sound like a poor sport. You rip on competitors but then you bought one and rave about them. It would be much classier if you din’t complain about it. So, just admit that there are other deals sites out there that are doing well and building on the basics (and some are more innovative too). Oh, and as a business owner who was told you want 50% AND 2.5% extra to process credit cards, so I have the “luxury” of being on your site, it’s nice to know that with competition comes better pricing so you won’t get to be so greedy for much longer!
Ed
onMay 17, 2010 12:28 am
Will there be an English version of these international websites? I’m sure many US visitors to those countries would like to explore and take offers but we don’t speak a dozen languages.
Jr
onMay 17, 2010 12:38 am
I agree with K. Once I read how much Groupon takes from the business’ featured on their site, I was a bit skeptical about buying from them anymore (haven’t bought one since).
I like competition, we’ll see who’s out there and turn up the heat.
Ben
onMay 17, 2010 1:06 am
well, who hasn’t seen this coming – it was a question of time. BUT: I hope you have agreed on some milestone payments for the overall price. neither the model nor the customers acquired so far show any sustainability in the European market. It was just expensive acquisition of customers on “no matter what” expenses. Don’t think that the average restaurants get’s these 1 EUR McDonald deal hunters to spend much…
Toner Versand
onMay 17, 2010 1:39 am
Congratulations! Citydeal ist a good german Website
Stefan
onMay 17, 2010 2:32 am
Congrats!
Daniela
onMay 17, 2010 2:46 am
I work for Citydeal as a teamleader for Presales and I’m proud being a part of it right now!To cooperate with you was the best thing to do and we are all excited about what comes in the next few months!
Cheers from Germany
Jemima
onMay 17, 2010 3:44 am
We#re proud to be joining your ranks Groupon.
Here’s our announcement post, and video of Chris Muhr (our CEO0 telling the London team the news:
http://blog.mycitydeal.co.uk/2010/05/17/mycitydeal-meets-groupon/
Lisa
onMay 17, 2010 6:01 am
This is such great news! I travel constantly and am always checking for Groupons in other U.S. cities… I’m excited to have the opportunity to use Groupons in other countries now, too!!! What a great day for Groupon – congrats!
cynthiam
onMay 17, 2010 6:03 am
congrats! and another vote for English translation on international pages. I <3 Groupon!
Earlene Lown
onMay 17, 2010 6:07 am
Will you be adding Canada any time soon?
Earlene Lown
onMay 17, 2010 6:11 am
Oops! Isee you already have Canada – haven’t had my coffee yet!
Sorry.
Firefly Essentials
onMay 17, 2010 7:28 am
I have already been featured in a Groupon offer here in Nashville but since we already ship worldwide how can I be the Groupon-of-the-Day in say Paris or London?
greg
onMay 17, 2010 9:01 am
I would also allow each countries websites to have a button to change the language. This will allow vacationers to check places they are visiting for deals! I can’t read Italian and I am visiting this summer.
Adriana Fernandez
onMay 17, 2010 10:01 am
What about South America? Brazil and Argentina are my top picks. Think about the world cup in Brazil in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016. You have plenty of time to research and give people all sorts of great deals.
Arik Keller
onMay 17, 2010 10:21 am
Oh Andrew – this quote is too much man.
“With that in mind, we started meeting with the horde of European Groupon clones, looking for a team that would do Groupon justice in Europe. Unfortunately, we found them to be very much like the American knockoffs – without the strategic vision or operational chops to do much more than watch us and play Simon Says.”
There are a lot competitors out there like us that have a tremendous amount of respect for Groupon, don’t lump us all together. Enjoy the competition.
NRG
onMay 17, 2010 10:40 am
I really have to agree with Nick, K and Arik, Andrew, while you’ve been on quite the ride, the reason your site is so successful is (1) you’ve taken advantage of the recession and the companies who’ve just been trying to hang on who will let you take 50% of 50 – 90%, (2) you live in a free-market economy – which allows for competition.
Just enjoy your ride and quite whining about other daily deal sites. Remember “imitation is the sincerest for of flattery”.
Sadegh
onMay 17, 2010 10:42 am
Great. is there any chance for us to run groupon program in my location? my organization can manage a good partnership with Groupon in my area , Dubai/UAE and also Tehran/Iran. Plz let me know what’s the next step? BR, Sadegh Bharami
Angela
onMay 17, 2010 11:55 am
I’ll be visiting Honolulu Hawaii, within the next 2 weeks – any deals?
Rob
onMay 17, 2010 12:15 pm
awesome, but what about the name groupon? I think some one else has that name in Germany for a different business?
But i like the expansion strategy, it is better than having too many groupon clones around.
Patrick
onMay 17, 2010 12:48 pm
Andrew, it’s so awesome you’re honoring the masterminds of german copycat culture. I hope – for the long term – it was worth it.
anna smith
onMay 17, 2010 12:49 pm
My best friend just started working for citydeal in Berlin, Germany, as quality assurance manager. She rocks; so congrats on acquiring citydeal…
jens hohmann
onMay 17, 2010 2:02 pm
youre welcome
Hawk
onMay 18, 2010 3:30 am
When will you have deals in Montreal?
Ingrid
onMay 18, 2010 7:00 am
I love Groupon!! I use it in Chicago, Tampa and New Orleans… Groupon Europe is great!! But…..can we have language selection please? We’re visiting this summer and would love to use Groupon in Rome. My Italian is limited to bathroom…beer…you know, the important things! So if we could have an English button on the European sites that would be molto buona!!
gmoz22
onMay 18, 2010 7:12 am
CityDeal has the SAME design as Groupon, minus rounded corners… When they came online in France end of February, I was sure it was Groupon behind it, with a different name that European users would grasp easier.
Cindy
onMay 18, 2010 7:35 am
How bout Groupon in Mexico, Cabo etc.???
Nacho Libre
onMay 18, 2010 11:15 am
How do you guys like conspiracy theories? I compared the two sites, Groupon and MyCityDeal and noticed that the copy was transcribed almost verbatim (from Groupon). Logically there are two possibilities, either Groupon funded MCD’s which is possible due to their exponential growth, or MCD lack any creativity whatsoever. I let you the public decide!
No names
onMay 19, 2010 3:55 am
Well, I guess you don’t count Vente-privée as the same thing? Do you really thing Groupon is innovating? Really?
Aaron
onMay 19, 2010 3:59 am
Hi,
Having been a fan of Groupon’s vision and really Andrew Mason and his attitude, I should say I’m both dissapointed and excited.
I know you read all of these Andrew so first of all I hope you succeed and bring the Groupon “aura” to this side of the world.
The reason I’m excited is because oh well, its groupon that is coming! So the company vision will somehow transfer here hopefully.
The reason I’m dissapointed is because I think with that much money at hand, Groupon could have built a real Groupon in Europe and surpass the crappy clones. Maybe its only me but what inspired me about Groupon was the brand and the team and the spirit more then the money or the business model. The vision of making people’s lives more fun, and giving people the excuses to get out of the house and live life.
Citydeal lacks that. They were money driven from the very start. I understand that they have operational excellence, but they lack the vision, the purpose. And I believe that the vision is what really makes a company a success.
All their deals also reflect this money driven attitude. I think the market they have attracted are really hardcore deal seekers as well. So they wouldnt really be repeat customers. Just dissapointed with that.
You guys hired all people in your team of 300 with the vision, the company culture in mind. And here are guys that cloned you and have hired 600 people in 5 months? With what vision?
Anyways, I know all these comments have an effect on you even if small. Let me make clear that my intention is not to bash anyone.
Apart from all the business talk, I think you are a great guy and I hope you and the team succeed!
Take care Aaron
Telecom Devices
onMay 19, 2010 8:47 pm
Its about time Andrew Mason stopped wittering on about “clones” and “knockoffs” grew up a bit and referred to his competitors as what they are, competitors. Does he really think he has a god given right to the global concept of group buying. There are other countries out there Andrew other than America. Citydeals only intention from the outset was to sell the business to Groupon. My guess is that this sale will prove to be as good as the US subprime property portfolios that was dumped on the rest of the world by America. Well Andrew welcome to Britain. As the owner of Wowcher.co.uk I welcome you. The way I see it is that we simply have a re-named competitor who at least might raise awareness of the whole concept, spend loads of cash advertising and generate a ton of free publicity for us. You wont get your usual 50% commission here either, at least not if you want to compete with your competitors. +1
Anon
onMay 20, 2010 10:30 am
Nick, sounds like sour grapes to be honest. If Groupon started the concept which has now been ‘cloned’ and has decided to partner itself with the number 1 ‘clone’ in Europe and the UK to make them the number 1 business of its type in the world, makes it hard to argue with his logic. I mean, what would you call yourself…pioneers? innovators?
Seems unprofessional to go around slagging off your so called ‘competitors’….with that kind of attitude the competition has already been won.
Best of luck
Nick
onMay 20, 2010 11:24 pm
Anon, come on, dont hide. I welcome the competition. I was always advised not to inovate, its too expensive, just do what is already being done but do it better
Anon
onMay 21, 2010 2:01 am
That initial message didnt sound particularly welcoming….
I would love see your plans to better the concept come into fruition, I havent seen any evidence of it yet.
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Adam Sakye
onMay 27, 2010 9:56 am
Great news, especially for Germany, it should be a great endeavor, i do a lot of business there, and i believe you would to. Germans LOVE a good deal..
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Anil Suren
onMay 29, 2010 12:37 pm
One remark about this part in your entry: “18 countries, 140 cities, and over 900 employees in about a dozen offices across two continents. Not bad for 19 months’ work!”
It is actually 3 continents. Since you have Turkey
Warm regards from the Turkey CityDeal Team Anil
Mike R
onMay 30, 2010 3:11 am
Great news and congrats. As a customer in London I hope this brings more successful deals to us as well as promoting lots of businesses who have been hot hard by the recession.
Nick, from wowcher. I have this question for you. Do you think that a bigger company are more likely to secure a better deal for customers? Or just bully companies into bringing down their prices? I think it is more of the former.
mycitydeal ran a deal for £1 cinema tickets, weeks later so did wowcher. Mycitydeal delivered – I am not sure exactly how but they did. And wowcher ended up NOT honouring the deal.: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=33193611
No one twists the arms of suppliers to sign up with group saving websites but in this case bigger is better for sure!
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