Groupon Launches Small Business Tool

Groupon GRPN is launching a new tool for small businesses that will allow them to schedule appointments more easily. According to CBS, the tool is launching on Monday and it will allow GRPN users to book appointments for appropriate deals purchased, like massages, haircuts, guided tours and other services. However, businesses will be able to use the product to book appointments not sold on Groupon. The scheduler is being offered free to businesses that use Groupon. In addition, customers who sign up in the next three months will also get the service for free. There has been no word as of yet on how much the service will cost after that three month period. Unfortunately, deals purchased for restaurants and hotels are not eligible for use with the scheduler, as they have their own systems. Groupon Scheduler is part of GRPN's long-term effort to generate more activity with small businesses through new tools and services. Once a Groupon deal is purchased, users will be able to book the appointment immediately, or wait till later. They will also be able to change the appointment or cancel online as they wish. On March 9, Morgan Stanley released a research report stating that Groupon was implementing a more effective international tax structure. “Our updated Q1 GAAP / Non-GAAP EPS is $(0.04) / $0.01, and C2012E GAAP / Non-GAAP is $0.01 / $0.26. We believe that although this tax structure will increase Groupon's tax provision to ~$180M in 2012, it will allow for a lower effective tax rate by 2014.” On a March 13 Internet Connect Conference with Barclays, GRPN CFO Jason Child said that Groupon is striving to be kind of the local operating system for commerce, and that it wants to be the preferred place to come where merchants know they can drive acquisition of customers, drive yield management, and drive loyalty and retention. “And we have tools that enable us to help merchants do all three of those things,” he said. “For customers, we want to provide the best and most compelling deals in the local marketplace that are so unbelievably good you can't pass them up.”