The online coupon market experienced unprecedented growth and popularity in 2011.  As a result, consumers and merchants started to become weary of the discounts and the increasing number of websites, which squeezed margins and cut profits from everyone’s deals.  Research shows that 52% of US consumers who use these daily deal sites feel “overwhelmed,” by the frequency of the emails they receive.  And 60% feel the daily-deal industry is too crowded.

The daily deal space, which was made popular by Groupon, is feeling the wrath of the research to be true.  In addition to Facebook announcing that it would no longer feature local discounts, which began in April, Yelp has decided they want out of the business as well.  Additionally, 38 other daily-deal sites closed in July and the online-coupon industry experienced a 7% drop in revenue.

Consumers are not the only ones who are feeling overwhelmed, merchants are too.  Some merchants have found that if they run a deal with one company, they will then be solicited by many of the other coupon sites to offer the same or a similar deal.  Not exactly the point of running a deal, which is to introduce people to your product and hope they like it enough to pay full price later.  If merchants get stuck in the circle of daily-deals they are communicating to their potential consumers that the original prices they are charging are not what their product or service is worth.  Although daily deals do have some really great positives, it can become a slippery slope for merchants.

For more information about how the clutter and chaos of the daily deal space is forcing websites to close, go to: http://adage.com/article/digital/clutter-competition-hit-yelp-groupon-clones/229532/

There are six back-to-school retailers that are utilizing mobile apps to drive traffic into their stores, not necessarily encourage online shopping.  These retailers are using their mobile marketing tools to assist customers when they are actually inside of the brick and mortar store.

AdAge has put together their top six mobile apps and strategies in play for the back-to-school season.

1. TopShop and SCVNGR will team up, beginning on Sept. 5th, to drive people in-store via earning discounts or a shopping spree by using the SCVNGR app to complete challenges and earn points toward their chosen award.
2. Finish Line’s new app, which launched earlier this month, gives shoppers access to real-time inventory at locations closest to them.  The app also allows consumers to complete their transactions, while also using geo-tracking to provide store info and directions.
3. Wet Seal has taken a completely different approach – Bribery.  The store is offering shoppers a free Android phone (with a new 2-year plan plus data) for coming into a store and trying on jeans.
4. Amazon Student is a new app that allows students to check and compare prices by scanning barcodes.  Students are also able to scan barcodes to find out trade-in value (Amazon gift cards) for items they no longer want.
5. Google Catalogs is a free tablet app that allows shoppers to interact with and browse catalogs.  This app includes all of the given functionalities, finding products in store, buying online, watch videos, but it also has cool extras like the ability to create collages, search for products across several catalogs and add retailers to a favorite tab.
6. E-Textbooks are now enabling students to compare prices on new, used, electronic and rental textbooks by scanning barcodes.  Students are also able to rent or buy directly from the apps, which include Chegg, CampusBooks and Kno.

For more information on these apps, go to: http://adage.com/article/digital/back-school-ways-retailers-mobile/229455/

Ticketmaster has teamed up with Facebook by enhancing its interactive seating maps so that “ticket buyers and event-goers can see where their Facebook friends are sitting and tag themselves into their seats.”  The new Facebook-infused seating map is live for more than 9,000 events on Ticketmaster and Live Nation.  The idea behind this feature is to get concert and event-goers back to their pre-internet roots, where everyone would gather together and go buy tickets at the box office as a group, to ensure that all the seats were next to each other.

The map has a filter on the left-hand side where is shows your friends that are attending that event.  There are then Facebook Friend flags on the map to show you their exact seats.  Ticketmaster’s research, from their interactive seating maps rolled out without Facebook last year, says that when ticket buyers share their purchase online, it creates an additional $5 in ticket sales for them.  The goal is that the addition of Facebook will create more frequency in sharing the events and therefore will really create more revenue and higher sell-outs.

For more information, go to: http://mashable.com/2011/08/23/ticketmaster-seat-maps-facebook/ or watch a video on the enhancement here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znxZ8h-z3rk&feature=player_embedded

Skype has announced that it is going to buy GroupMe, the smartphone app that allows users to send texts and make conference calls with groups of friends.  GroupMe was founded in 2010 and quickly raised more than $10 million in investments.  It also won the ‘Breakout Award’ at SXSW Interactive Awards.

The addition of GroupMe also allows Skype users to photo message back and forth. Skype’s addition of GroupMe helps the site in competition with the mobile group messaging space, which already has big moves by other companies such as Google, who bought Slide in Aug. 2010, Facebook’s group chat capabilities via Beluga and Apple’s iMessage which was available via iOS 5 in June.

The Skype blog post does state though, that while Skype is “buying” GroupMe and will give access to Skype’s 175 million monthly users, the company will remain independent.  The purchase of GroupMe, as well as Skype’s acquisition of mobile video provider Qik (from earlier this year) allows Skype to continue their role as an innovator in mobile user experiences.

For more information, go to Skype’s announcement at: http://about.skype.com/press/2011/08/skype_acquires_groupme.html

Ford is using Facebook to promote the F-150′s new Ecoboost system.  The ability for a truck to get 22 miles per gallon is something that Ford is really excited about.  The Facebook campaign is using 8 drivers, from different cities, all equip with new F-150, to see who can get the best gas mileage with their truck.  The MPG is monitored by a Ford Crew Chief system, which was installed in each truck.  Consumers are then able to follow these drivers via Ford’s Facebook Page.  The winner of the competition will get a year’s supply of Shell Nitrogen Enriched Gas.  The fans should get excited because “two Shell gas stations in the winner’s city will offer free regular-grade gasoline for two hours, 22 minutes on September 2, a reminder of the 22 MPG that the F-150 Ecoboost achieves.”  For more information about this campaign and contest, check out: http://mashable.com/2011/08/17/ford-facebook-mpg-f-150-ecoboost/

Secret has also decided to try to engage with its fans via Facebook.  The deodorant company has launched a “Mean Stinks” anti-bullying campaign.  The campaign page has 222,000 fans and asks them to use “Good Graffiti” to pass along positive message to friends.  The campaign already has 32,000 positive messages sent and  boasts a 50% engagement rate from the fans.  The Mean Stinks campaign also received unusually high engagement levels, including the statistic that in the “first 10 days on iAd, 23,000 women engaged with the Secret ad, generating tap-through rates 50% ahead of average for iAd,” according to P&G.  Additionally, the campaign had 10,000 women trigger $1 donations to Pacer’s National Bullying Prevention Center by requesting online coupons or downloading iAd wallpapers.   The Facebook page also includes information about counseling centers for users reference and a section where women can complain or apologize for their participation as a bully or a victim.  For more information about this very topical and influential Facebook project, go to: http://adage.com/article/news/secret-s-anti-bullying-push-engage-facebook-fans/229195/

The web has been abuzz this morning with the announcement that Google is acquiring Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion.  This acquisition allows Google the access a patent portfolio that was keeping their Android operating system behind in the game.   This move is imperative for Google because as new players enter the patent arena, Barnes and Noble, HTC and Samsung, patent-based royalty fees are continuing to rise.  Since Android is a free operating system, increased fees could really hinder any growth and make the pre-installed Android product more expensive for users.  Specifically Microsoft has asked Samsung to pay $15 royalty fee for every phone it makes that uses the Android OS.

This purchase also gives new life to Google TV.  Owning Motorola gives Google TV a potential distribution strategy that it didn’t have before.  Since Google TV hasn’t taken off like originally hoped, the Motorola purchase will allow Google to rethink their current strategy.

For more information about the purchase and it’s implications, go to: http://mashable.com/2011/08/15/google-motorola-google-tv/

Facebook Messenger launched its Android and iPhone app yesterday.  The app, which is now the number-one free app in the iTunes App Store, is dedicated to sending messages and texts through Facebook.  This app was made possible by Facebook’s acquisition of the group messaging app, Beluga, this past March.  This is the first mobile app that the company has created and it’s taking real-time communication to new levels.  Messages can be sent and received in real-time similar to text messages.

Users log into Messenger with their Facebook information and they are then taken to a screen with all of their recent chats and messages.  They can then continue with any past conversations or start new ones directly from that page and the best part is that messages can be sent through Facebook or SMS.  Users are also able to send photos to each other via the app.

Since the app allows users to communicate via SMS, it really has the potential of chipping away at cell phone bills, especially those who charge extra for text messages.   With a network of over 750 million people, it will be extremely interesting to see how the cell phone companies respond to this move by Facebook and how long it takes users to start using Messenger instead of their cell phones for texts.

For more information, check out: http://mashable.com/2011/08/09/facebook-messenger/

There are a few mobile apps that we are featuring this week, as they bridge the communication gap between the physical and digital world.

TransFire is a chat app that breaks down the communication gap globally.  The app provides instant and automatic translation capabilities to and from more than 50 languages.  This app is free and includes text-to-speech and phonetic transliteration options.  It seamlessly hooks into Google Chat too, making it extremely easy to GChat with friends from other countries.

Picdish is a real-time iPhone app for foodies and friends.  This app allows people to share their food photos with friends and families.  Picdish is a group focused app that weaves photos and food thoughts captured at the same time and place for a shared experience.  It also allows you to individualize your experience, follow users, browse popular experiences, while exploring what’s happening all over the world.

Babbleville is a local discussion forum app that works with the Android and iPhone.  This service helps mobile users start up location-based forums or “villes.”  Users will drop a note at their location (i.e. a stadium or convention center), called a “babble,” and other users can join the discussion thread, creating a new “ville.”