Groupon Crashes After Offering Gap Deal of the Day
The popular deal-of-the-day site, known for featuring local retailers, saw its site go down after offering a Gap coupon.
Posted 8/ 19 10 at 3:30 PM | News, Technology, Advertising & Marketing, Sales, Online Business, Consumer Products & Services, Retail
Text Size:
A A A
Groupon broke from tradition on Thursday and offered a coupon for a big national retailer -- the Gap -- and demand from users promptly crashed the site. The popular deal-of-the-day site surprised customers and set shopping blogs on fire with its Gap Groupon, offering $25 off of $50 at any Gap in North America, right at the height of back to school shopping. Typically, Groupon has partnered with local small businesses.Demand in most markets immediately skyrocketed past previous offers. For example, in Washington, D.C., approximately 4,000 Groupons were sold by 10 a.m., compared to previous highs of about half that amount. By about 10:45 a.m. EST, the entire Groupon site had crashed, reading, "We've got good news and bad news... The bad news is that the site is currently unavailable because we are experiencing unusually high demand for today's GAP deal. The good news is that if you give us your e-mail address here, we'll notify you as soon as the deals are available again."
By 4:43 p.m. EST, Groupon had sold more than 300,000 Gap deals, with gross revenue of $7.5 million. Some estimated that, by the end of the deal, those numbers would rise to 700,000 sold and $17.5 million in gross revenue.
Groupon's Andrew Mason previously told AOL Small Business, "Every day for us, it's like a playground, a new opportunity to experiment." No word yet on whether this Gap Groupon experiment will lead to additional national retailer partnerships in the future.

- 'Marriage Penalty' Could Make Costly Return - CNNMoney
- Oil Rises on Optimism for Cliff Deal - FOXBusiness
- Dow 2012: The Studs and Duds - InvestorPlace
- Turning the Corner: Why 2012 Wasn't as Bad as You Think - The Motley Fool
- World’s Longest High-Speed Rail Line Unveiled In China - IBTimes
- FORGET THE DEFICIT: Here's The Real Reason Liberals Want To Hike Taxes On The Rich - Business Insider
- CEOs to Fire in 2013 - 24/7 Wall St.
- DailyFinance Market Minute - DailyFinance





Comments (Page 1 of 1)
it's amazing. no gop's blaming obama for this yet.
Awww, Dolphie this was so funny! I imagine the gophers will be posting after reading your post.
It's amazing when people questioned George W. Bush, they were called TRAITORS. Now, the gophers are calling for violence against Democrats...i.e. Palin's "LOCK AND LOAD" strategy.
The Democrats have made many mistakes, but never have they called for some one to "take out" a Senator, as Palin told the crowd to do to Harry Reid.
He better not be hurt because then all hell will break loose.
What you talkin' 'bought Debra? When I take out the trash no one gets hurt and the house smells better.
Ready to take out the trash in November.
I hope that Groupon remembers who made them and not start to just go after national accounts just because they make more money. Groupon has been a boon for small businesses like mine. Every big business was once a small business. For every small business that starts today half will be gone in less than a year. Of the survivors, half of those will be gone in another year. We are over taxed and over regulated. Yet we pay more taxes and hire more people than any other demographic. If you love freedom and prosparity support small businesses. We are AMERICA!