The competition to grab consumers’ attention with daily deal or special product of the day shopping sites is really starting to heat up now.
Back in July, we told you that Amazon had acquired the daily deal site Woot to add to its ever-growing online shopping empire. Now, AOL is following suit with the upcoming launch of Wow.com, a featured product site that is taking aimat Groupon and Woot just in time to cash in on the busy holiday shopping season.
“If you want a deal, we listen and offer up your bargain-of-choice on a silver platter at an astronomically discounted price, helping you stretch your hard-earned dollar to infinity and beyond,”says the AOL marketing material on the new service.
Featured items on Wow will include savings on dining, shopping, and outings at both local and national locations according to AOL.
Groupon has elevated itself to industry-leader status as a coupon/daily deal site and claims that it will have more than $100 million in gross merchandise sales this year. That’s a hefty chunk of consumer dollars, so it’s not really surprising that tech giants such as Amazon and AOL are following suit to try to grab a slice themselves.
While AOL is primarily targeting consumers with Wow, it is also seeking to establish partnerships with sponsors to help expand the service. The company is offering corporate entities a revenue-sharing agreement to be part of Wow, with no up front costs:
“We provide an easy, risk-free opportunity to reach AOL users. Putting your business on the map is easy with Wow: AOL has a significantly greater audience reach than other online coupon sites. Between email and AOL homepage exposure, you’ll have tremendous publicity and the opportunity to showcase your business to a large audience that is ready to sample your offer and come back for more.”
Perhaps the only downside of the new site is that AOL may have managed to alienate a very sizable demographic—the millions around the globe who play World of Warcraft and could be confused when they visit wow.com.
AOL purchased the wow.com domain from World of Warcraft in 1998. Gamers who aren’t in the know and visit wow.com will be redirected to http://www.wow.joystiq.com.
We don’t have a firm date on when Wow is going to launch but we’ll keep our eyes peeled for it. You should too! As always we welcome your comments and feedback!
