The original idea for Groupon came from Andrew Mason, a former music student from Pittsburgh who has also worked in web design. He came up with the idea for group coupons (the basis of the name Groupon) offering large discounts in 2008. He then joined with his former boss, entrepreneur Eric Lefkofsky, who invested $1 million to get the company started.

Groupon was a very rapid success and was supposed to be worth over $1.3 billion in 2010. However, it has since made heavy losses and in July 2012 the company's stocks reached their lowest ever level.

Groupon has been the subject of millions of web searches and has spawned several imitators. Large numbers of consumers now look for bargains of this kind all the time, on restaurants, breaks, nights out etc. However, companies like this have been criticised for putting pressure on small business to offer discounts that they can't afford.