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January 26, 2012

Groupon Experiments with SmartKiosk Interface to Attract More Customers

By Miguel Leiva-Gomez, TMCnet Contributor

Groupon has just begun to open a lot of kiosks in Chicago, the city the company is based in. Its kiosk experiment has the goal of offering deals to more customers that do not use its application in mobile environments.



The company allegedly began an agreement with a company named SmartDigital to get its hands on some kiosks in which to show its offers on. These new kiosks, called SmartKiosks, will show up in thirty different locations in Chicago, frequented by shoppers. Groupon wants to open yet another 70 SmartKiosks as this experiment's results proves lucrative.

The kiosks have large 32+ inch touchscreens, showing prospective customers any sort of information on deals they desire, including restaurant, concert, and transportation tickets that will help them get a reduction in price. The kiosks will even let people take pictures from its interface in high definition and share them on the most popular social networking venues, like Facebook (News - Alert).

All SmartKiosks will show you deals offered by Groupon. Each of the deals will tailor to the customer's current location, and the customer can pay for the coupon with a credit card. Customers can also choose to have the deal's content emailed to them back home. Spokeswoman for Groupon, Julie Mossler, says, “We think the kiosk partnership offers a fun way to get great, relevant Groupon deals while you're out exploring Chicago.”

SmartDigital has bigger goals though. The company wants to pack other cities in the United States with its kiosks, namely Miami and New York. Groupon might go through with a new deal that piggybacks on SmartDigital's goal and includes its interface in the company's SmartKiosks.

Groupon's may seem to think pennies by putting a couple of kiosks in the city, but its business isn't weak at all; its daily deals product being the market leader in coupons. The experiment was started just to see if people will respond well to it. After Groupon sees that enough people are using the kiosks, it has the intention of placing more throughout the city, as many as necessary to make good sales.

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Miguel Leiva-Gomez is a professional writer with experience in computer sciences, technology, and gadgets. He has written for multiple technology and travel outlets and owns his own tech blog called The Tech Guy, where he writes educational, informative, and sometimes comedic articles for an audience that is less versed in technology.

Edited by Jennifer Russell
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