Groupon Now! launches. A young man succumbs to its considerable charms.

Nevermind the Rapture, the world will never be the same again. Today, May 20th, 2011, Groupon announced the launch of its new app and business model, Groupon Now! in Chicago. Groupon Now! (large exclamation point required, it seems) is an app that allows the user to punch in his or her location and find the local deals that are happening around him or her at that particular moment. The business model is sharp; it takes all the benefits of Groupon’s previous model but allows the user to find closer, more accessible locations for deploying that coupon.

In one fell swoop, Groupon has revamped its already successful tactics taking cues from location-based apps. In celebration of the launch, Groupon is offering all of its May 20 deals for a ridiculously low price of $1 everywhere in Chicago. As I was checking out the new Groupon website, a seemingly endless number of amazing deals popped up, and the more I searched the more excited I became. Every deal is a dollar? Really? What’s the catch? Yes, you indecisive consumers, all of these deals are for one dollar. One redeemable coupon reads like this: “96% off food and drink at Bella Notte.” Hmm, I like Italian food, why not? Another was for 95% percent off Mexican food, and drink at Chicken Run Campeche. Suddenly, I’m very hungry for some tacos and Tecate. With so many choices dangling themselves lewdly in front of my face, I was drooling with the sheer possibility of it all. Why hadn’t this existed before? I have been living in a nightmarish world where I was a slave to paying full price for my goods and services. But now that I have been enlightened to the truth, those days of shelling out extra cashola are over. 

The only obvious downside to the Groupon Now! deals is that there is a time limit and each of the coupons is only limited to one person. But Groupon Now! will not only allow businesses to fill up space and generate more revenue, it also creates a more hyper connected consumer, one who will now be more connected to his or her surroundings than ever before. Thankfully, social media has risen to the task again, nimbly creating new market strategy to strengthen and reinvigorate old business models that were in desperate need of growth and change. All I can say is enjoy the deals.