Groupon AustraliaGroupon’s Australian subsidiary has today begun the switch to become Groupon Australia, after being forced to launch locally under the Stardeals moniker.

Groupon, labelled by some as the daily deals site that kicked off the current craze sweeping the world, has seen much success in its home country of the United States and recently began expanding internationally. However it couldn’t launch in Australia under the name Groupon, because the founders of rival Australian discount site Scoopon had already trademarked Groupon Australia and purchased the .com.au domain name.

At the time, Scoopon said it had registered the Groupon name in Australia for “defensive purposes” which would ensure Australian consumers couldn’t confuse Groupon with Scoopon.

Late last month, the SMH reported that Groupon and Scoopon reached an agreed settlement of reportedly “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” with Scoopon agreeing to hand over the Groupon trademark and domain.The court case was adjourned following the deal brokered between the two companies, with both parties reportedly “pleased” with the outcome.

Now that the deal is done, Groupon has decided to from today shutter the Stardeals website and business, and begin trading under the Groupon Australia banner.

“We’re communicating the change in brand to all our customers and merchant partners and reinforcing our commitment to deliver the very best deals,” Patrick Schmidt, Groupon’s Australian CEO said today.“This is an exciting day for Groupon Australia….it’s a trusted brand that many people know, so to have that strength now fully behind us is great.”

After originally launching in Sydney only, the company says it now offers deals across Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, with special, “premium deals”, also now available in Melbourne and Sydney.

Traffic going to the old Stardeals website will now be re-directed to groupon.com.au, the company says, with all other branding to be changed as soon as possible. The company didn’t waste time setting up in Australia — they made their first local acquisition within weeks of the first deal going on sale, buying out Australian crowd buying site Crowdmass for an undisclosed amount.

 

 

Image Caption: Groupon rebrands in Australia

Source: Full Story ITechReport