Groupon and Foursquare End Distribution Deal

Groupon has stopped utilizing Foursquare as a mobile distribution partner. A Groupon spokesperson on Tuesday told ClickZ that the relationship had “reached a natural conclusion” but wouldn’t specify when the development occurred. The partnership appears to have lasted less than 10 months.

Chicago-based Groupon, along with other deals sites like LivingSocial, Gilt Groupe, and Scoutmob, began sending discount offers from local merchants through Foursquare’s “Explore” feature in summer 2011. Foursquare spokesperson Erin Gleason confirmed the dissolved Groupon relationship via email sent to ClickZ: “We’re still pulling in deals from Scoutmob and LivingSocial, and may add others in the future, but the third-party deals were never intended to be a primary source of revenue for us. As you know, we’ll be starting to roll out our first paid premium offerings on top of our existing Merchant Platform in the next few months.”

It’s unclear whether or not Gilt Groupe is still in the Foursquare mix. Attempts to communicate with the New York-based deals company, at press time, were unsuccessful. Recent scans of deals options via the Foursquare Explore button in the New York City locale haven’t produced any Gilt Groupe deals, ClickZ has observed.