CO-CEO Groupon Russia shared the secrets of business success with RMA students

On May 21, students of the Internet Industry Management Program met with CO-CEO Groupon Russia, former Commercial Director Groupon UK, Anna Berezovskaya. For the first time in the program history, the lecture was shown in a webcast, available to all visitors. During the meeting, Anna told about Groupon's approach to formation of local teams, work with subscribers and companies, as well as made a presentation of new services of the company.

Groupon Russia was founded in August 2010 on the basis of a Russian "clone", the collective buying site Darberry. Anna has been working for the Russian division since March 2011. Previously she participated in the establishment of a Groupon branch in the UK, and her career as an Internet Project Manager started with Bazaarvoice social shopping startup in Austin, Texas.

Ms. Berezovskaya noted that Russian Groupon is forming a strong team, but the major top managers have already been set, so the emphasis is made on hiring sales managers and the creation of consulting department that will assist companies in organization of the most effective campaigns. "90% of the suppliers repeat their campaigns, and we would like to focus their marketing budgets in Groupon, as it is easier for a local business to make an offer via our service to get the maximum audience coverage", - Anna says.

She explained that the company’s aim is to become personal "concierge service" for millions of people, saving their money and placing special offers of the best restaurants, hotels, spa and entertainment centers. For this purpose, Groupon has teams engaged in service quality control, and each offer undergoes several stages of validation prior to its publication.

Ms. Berezovskaya also told about a new Groupon product: mobile application "Groupon Now". Its open testing started in May in Chicago, the company's homeland. She promised to try to speed up the launch of LBS discount service in Russia.