Westfield taps Groupon in online push

Westfield has cast its eye at group buying revenues, throwing in its lot with Groupon to push its brands.

Shoppers who sign up will receive deals from Westfield, which they can only collect in store, with retailers including Hoyts, Escape Travel, Boost Juice, Salsa's Fresh Mex, Ed Harry, Ella Rouge Beauty, Queenspark, Hairhouse Warehouse, and the Westfield Stylist and Napoleon Perdis. To receive the Westfield deals, the shoppers have to sign up to the Groupon Powered by Westfield portal on either of the company's websites.

Shoppers will be able to see the deals on the Westfield app, the Groupon app, Westfield's Facebook page or Westfield's site.

According to Westfield, 61 per cent of shoppers research deals online or shop online as well as visit stores, and 20 per cent of shoppers accessed the Westfield site from a mobile device.

"Value is a key driver of online behaviour and Westfield will offer great deals online that drive shoppers into Westfield centres or onto westfield.com.au," John Batistich, Westfield director of marketing said in a statement.

"Groupon Powered by Westfield is also a unique sales opportunity for retailers with no upfront investment."

Batistich said that Westfield had cottoned on to the opportunity after realising the size of the market, with research company Telsyte placing it at $498 million. Since the deals were discounted, that makes it a 1 billion-dollar category, Batistich said.

Sam Yip, Telsyte senior research manager, said that the deal would allow Westfield to access a "highly engaged consumer base ready to spend online".