While many merchants have used deal-of-the-day Web site to sell a one-time volume of goods or services – $50 for $100 worth of clothes at Urban Outfitter, or half price lunches at a restaurant – so far, the site hasn't really had all that much to offer merchants looking to generate repeat business.

Groupon hopes to change that.

The deal-of-the-day site is apparently getting ready to unveil a new program called Groupon Rewards that will help participating merchants increase customer loyalty and encourage repeat purchases. Merchants can begin signing up for the program starting tomorrow. Consumers will begin seeing the rewards program in October, TechCrunch is reporting today.

So how will the Groupon Rewards program work? A merchant that might offer a regular Groupon deal now will be able encourage customers to buy more – and reward them for doing so – by unlocking a special deal after the customer reaches a certain spending threshold. (TechCrunch offers this example: after a customer spends a certain amount – let's say $100 – with a specific merchant, that customer could receive a loyalty-based Groupon Reward of $20 worth of goods for $4.)

Since customer credit cards are kept on file, Groupon and the merchant will know when the pre-set spending threshold is reached (you'd need to use the same credit card to get the Rewards deals.) The program will also help Groupon better understand how people are redeeming their Groupons. Right now, once the traditional Groupon is purchased, the company doesn't know how much the customer is spending at each visit to the merchant.

You might buy a Groupon for $50 for $100 worth of food at a fine dining restaurant, but once you arrive at the restaurant, you might be spending money above and beyond the original $50, unknown to Groupon.

So the new program is expected to improve customer loyalty, merchant enthusiasm and Groupon customer intelligence, all at the same time.