
// Development
Groupon Clone Website — How to Create a Website Like Groupon?
// Development
Groupon is a discount and promotions aggregator that helps users save money and businesses increase sales. The service is used by tens of millions of people around the world who conclude 400,000 transactions every day, thanks to which the company will receive $ 3 billion in annual revenue. In our article, you will learn how this online service works and how you can create a website like Groupon yourself by cloning its functionality and partially design.
There are more than 500 Groupon clones worldwide today. Popular ones include Dealnews, Woot, Brad's Deals, TechBargains, Slickdeals, FatWallet, Groupon, Coupon Clippers, RetailMeNot, LivingSocial (acquired by Groupon) and many others. There are by an order more similar niche projects.
Due to this level of competition, it is unwise to launch a site like Groupon that will work with all categories of goods and services, as this would require a lot of investment in development and marketing. It's easier to launch a niche project like Holidayers.com (vacations and travel), TravelCoupons (same day tours) or Wpbeginner.com/deals (WordPress and hosting).
How to stand out from services like Groupon:
The basic business model of the service is simple: the site publishes trade offers from suppliers and receives a 50% commission on each trade. Any seller of goods and services can become a supplier. The service is free for both parties.
When creating your site like Groupon, you can use this same business model, but not necessarily. Online aggregators of discounts and promotions can work according to a different algorithm. Here are examples of the most popular approaches.
Traditional coupons. On such sites, users can find coupons, which are usually distributed in print form through newspapers, magazines or advertising brochures. The same coupons can be distributed over the Internet. The user finds them, prints them out and goes to the store. Such sites earn, as a rule, on a commission from each transaction (10-50%). Here are some examples of such projects: RetailMeNot, Coupon Clippers and Coupons.
Most of Groupon's revenue comes from coupon sales and loyalty card deals that connect consumers to local businesses. In addition, the company also makes money by selling products directly to consumers. Collectively, these items generate $ 2-2.5 billion in revenue.
Other directions are also important, but this is additional income:
Otherwise, site features like Groupon can be pretty standard.
WordPress + plugins. Perhaps, this is the easiest and cheapest option to create your own clone of the Groupon website with all the necessary functions and a very similar design. To do this, just find a similar theme, activate it in the CMS WordPress and fill in the trading cards. In some cases, you will also need to install additional plugins to add or improve site functionality. The cost of themes is from free to $1000, for plugins is $10-50 for one.
Ready-to-use Groupon clone scripts. You can find thousands of almost launch-ready Groupon clones online, and the number is growing as the original updates its design and functionality from time to time. Using clones like this is pretty easy if you know a little about web development and have worked with hosting. Groupon clones cost from $ 100 to $ 5,000, depending on quality.
Individual web development. Longer, harder and more expensive than other options, but this is the only way to create your website with a unique design and features that will help you to stand out from the competition. Suitable for businessmen who are willing to spend more time and money now to get a secure, scalable and unique website.