AOL has just launched Wow.com, a Groupon clone offering daily deals to local shoppers.
Daily deal site Groupon garnered a $1 billion valuation earlier this year after securing a $135 million round of funding from Zynga investor Digital Sky Technologies. Those numbers had everybody in the tech scene seeing dollar signs, apparently, because the march of the Groupon clones has been going on ever since.
Groupon competitor LivingSocial was able to raise $25 million to take on the daily-deals giant. Later this past summer, Yelp launched a daily deals feature, as did OpenTable and Zagat.
Others on the Groupon bandwagon include group-buying app GroupTabs and a Facebook-connected, Groupon-like app from Wildfire.
Clearly, the group-buying, daily-deals landscape is looking like a gold rush, with new products and features quickly saturating the market. Why should AOL feel left out? They’ve entered the space with Wow.com (yes, the domain was purchased from a World of Warcraft site.)
The site promises discounts on common goods and services at local and national retailers, just like Groupon, albeit with a slightly customized twist. “If you want a deal,” the site reads, “we listen and offer up your bargain of choice on a silver platter at an astronomically discounted price, helping you stretch your hard-earned dollar to infinity and beyond.”
Mixed metaphors aside, being able to get personally relevant daily deals doesn’t sound like a half-bad idea.
Wow.com will make money via shared revenue with advertisers, who won’t have to pay any up-front fees for their promotions.
We’ll keep you updated on Wow.com’s progress as the site prepares for a full launch. What do you think so far: Does the world need yet another Groupon clone? Can AOL do it better? Let us know your opinions in the comments.
More About: aol, aol wow, daily deals, groupon, groupon clone, WoW
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