Earlier today Facebook announced a Deals component to Places, their mobile check in service.
In short, Deals allows businesses to offer incentives for people that check in at their location. Thus far, Deals appears to have pretty good functionality and I think it could be big for businesses (especially local).
When creating a deal there’s a section titled, “Add details and restrictions,” (click picture above) that has to be filled out, and it includes things such as the start/end date, quantity and repeat claims.
Deals, for Places, could function very much like Groupon by taking advantage of something like the quantity or start/end date fields.
Imagine if a clothing store had a flash “50% off sale” or if a restaurant did something like a “buy one get one free” lunch special.
There’s a ton of opportunity for businesses to take advantage of Deals and I’m excited to see where this goes.
Note: If you are creating a deal there will be a bit of a lag time. From Facebook,
“Thanks for submitting a Facebook Deal! Our team will review your offer within 2 business days. Please check your email for a notification about the status of your deal and important steps for implementing your deal. Once approved, your deal can’t be edited. However, you can stop your current deal at any time.”
