Groupon has entered into a strategic partnership with the largest multi-national carrier in Europe, Deutche Telekom, to accelerate the already rapid growth of local commerce through both online and mobile commerce channels.
This deal will make Groupon’s popular local commerce deals more widely available in a number of European countries that are in the network of the carrier.
This partnership represents Groupon’s first deal with a multi-national service provider that allows it to offer its services and products throughout a broad international network. Furthermore, it notably widens the position of Deutsche Telekom as a top application provider for consumers.
Deutsche Telekom will be applying a number of different kinds of sales tools and marketing tactics, which range from more traditional promotion activities to intensive integration of Groupon services into certain fixed and mobile services, offering the group offer service directly to its customers.
The plan is to make the service available sometime in the first half of the year, allowing the mobile customers at Deutsche Telecom to access the mobile services from Groupon without having to download them separately to their devices. This will make it even easier for them to find the local deals they want.
According to the Deutsche Telekom senior vice president of business development, Heikki Makijarvi, Groupon is among the top companies in the world for e-commerce and m-commerce business, and the partnership between her company and Groupon “allows us to strengthen our stake in this rapidly expanding and exciting new market segment” as they add portfolio diversification and simultaneously drive their time to market forward with innovative services and products.