Bloomberg Businessweek reports that Groupon has begun offering discounts of up to 80% on products sold on the web, to UK customers. Customers get a code to enter on the manufacturer’s site for the discount on their online order.

Nothing groundbreaking there, but it could provide another huge source of revenue for Groupon if it expands to the rest of Groupon’s markets, and it could do a whole lot for e-commerce businesses who struggle in their quest for online visibility.

Groupon’s classic pitch to businesses is that they can get repeat customers after offering a deal on Groupon, but I could see this being an even better pitch to online businesses. It’s a lot easier for a customer to come back to a web site than it is a brick and mortar store. As long as you offer them a great experience when they get there, they may just come back for future purchases. E-commerce businesses will want to make sure their sites are at the top of their games when they run an e-commerce Groupon.

But for now, this appears only to be a limited test, and there’s a chance it will never become more than that. Groupon’s not talking about it, but if the test goes well, we can probably expect this to become a widespread offering for Groupon.

A study released this week finds that businesses who offer Groupons tend to have lower reviews on Yelp, indicating that Groupons aren’t the best for a business’ reputation.

Meanwhile, Yipit reports that Groupon’s revenue increased 13%T from July to $121 million.

Deals are accessible through a mix of feeds and local media placements. LivingSocial will also be the headlining daily deal company in Examiner.com’s upcoming "Insider Deal" marketplace, an online discount center.

"Our readers come to Examiner.com to connect with what they are passionate about,” said Rick Blair, CEO of Examiner.com. “Now they also have access to discounts that let them experience more of what they love doing in their communities."

"We are excited by the opportunity to engage the Examiner.com community with the same great deals that are available through LivingSocial," said Tim O’Shaughnessy, CEO and co-founder of LivingSocial. "As users enjoy interacting within their local communities, they can take advantage of outstanding deals on all the services and experiences LivingSocial offers in their area — from restaurants and spas, to travel and outdoor adventure."

LivingSocial will be Examiner’s premier Daily Deal partner and distributor across Examiner’s network of sites. Visitors will gain access to discounts of up to 90% at local bars, restaurants, spas, theaters, etc. 

The actual discounts are not exclusive to Examiner.

The deal will allow for the sharing of digital coupons across the companies online and mobile networks. Offers will be on AOL’s Shortcuts.com, on Valassis’ online properties and across retailer websites in the RedPlum Digital Network.

The coupons will be delivered via electronic downloads to participating retailer frequent shopper cards and loyalty program IDs.

“Our goal is to provide our advertisers with a digital reach for their brand promotions like no other while providing consumers with valued content no matter where or how they seek savings," said John Lieblang, President of Valassis Digital Media.

"Valassis and AOL are enhancing both the advertiser and consumer shopping and saving experience by leveraging the strength of our combined network reach and breadth of our digital offerings."

Mason recently appeared on Charlie Rose, who asked him about the offer. He declined to talk about it specifically, but did offer this response: "I think every choice we make in the company comes down to a core of this idea we have of what Groupon could be, and the place it could play in the world in the rest of the 21st century, and every choice that we make is which option will make it more possible for us to get there. So I think whatever we decide to do with the company – the people that we hire, the deals that we run – every itty bitty choice is how do we build this company into something that transforms the way people buy from local businesses?"

Rose asked if the decision had been influenced by decisions Facebook had made, to which Mason responded: "I can’t talk about this Charlie. You can’t talk about all kinds of things largely because for the same reason that every person you go on a date with…you don’t bring them home to your parents right away."

Mason said that the company, which began as nothing more than a side project is adding about 30 cities a month in 35 countries, has 40 million subscribers, and just added 3 million subscribers the previous week. 

Can Groupon Become the Next Amazon?

Mason said he wants Groupon to change the way people buy from local businesses like Amazon changed how they buy products, and told Rose, "The discount is this great trick that we’re playing on people because we’re tricking them into getting out of the house and live their lives, because it’s there for one day. It’s like, ‘I’ve always wanted to go skydiving. If I’m gonna do it, I might as well do it now because it’s never gonna be cheaper,’ so we finally get people to commit and get off the couch and go out and have some fun."

Of course Amazon might wish to be that company too. The company recently invested 175 million into LivingSocial, one of Groupon’s biggest competitors. 

The Savior for Small Businesses?

Mason said Groupon was able to give one business half the number of customers in one day that the business had previously had in the previous 25 years combined. That’s quite a feat, and the kind of power that would make such a large price tag from Google seem pretty legit. 

"We’re the savior for small businesses," Mason told Rose. "For consumers, we want to reverse this trend of spending more and more time on the computer, and help people rediscover their cities." He Later added, "We found a way to make the coupon cool."

Mason is well aware of the Groupon copycats out there, but appears satisfied with the large lead it has in the market, the rate of expansion, and the company’s focus on what it does. 

For right now, it looks like Groupon will have some pretty fierce competition from some bigger players it hasn’t really had to contend with much yet, however. Google, Facebook, and Amazon are all going to want a piece of this pie, and all have a great deal of resources and sway over consumer habits on the web itself. 2011 is going to be a most intriguing year for local business deals. 

Watch the entire interview here. Mason’s a pretty funny guy. 

Do you think Groupon is the savior for small businesses? Tell us what you think. 

There’s a reason why Google is going after Groupon as opposed to one of its competitors. Not only is it the leader in its space, it’s the leader in its space by a long shot.  Experian Hitwise has shared some data comparing market share of visits of Group Coupon Sites, and Groupon is way ahead of its closest competitor, LivingSocial.

A Google acquisition could make Groupon’s market share skyrocket even more, though LivingSocial just got a nice infusion of cash from the biggest retailer on the web. LivingSocial announced a $175 Million Investment by Amazon, as well as an additional $8 million investment from Lightspeed Venture Partners. 

The company says it will use the investment to maintain a "steady drumbeat of worldwide launches and overall business growth". LivingSocial already has over 10 million subscribers in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, and Australia. 

"To be the biggest player in the local commerce space there is no one better to work with than Amazon," said LivingSocial CEO Tim O’Shaughnessy. "As the social shopping space continues to heat up, LivingSocial is committed to staying focused on providing the high level of quality that consumers and merchants have come to expect when working with us."

Along with the above chart,  Experian Hitwise shared the following information:

- Groupon.com received 79% of US visits last week and Living Social received 8% among a custom category of 81 Group Buying sites last week

- From prior analysis we know that Young Cosmos are one [of] the strongest early adopter segments. Despite the very unimpressive traffic numbers, perhaps Amazon is recognizing the potential for LivingSocial to move beyond its current early adopter phase.

Both Groupon and LivingSocial will have plenty of competition to deal with moving forward as this space is getting incredibly hot. If Google buys Groupon, it will have a clear advantage over the rest, however (even more so than it already does), with Google’s new overall focus on local and social. Amazon is very powerful though, so that should be huge for LivingSocial.

My TargetWeekly allows users to create customized views and deal alerts so they know when items they are looking for are on sale. Users can also view coupons, see top 10 deals, share via Facebook and Twitter and create their own customized mobile shopping lists to use in-store or online.

“We are excited to provide our guests with yet another innovation to simplify their lives and improve their shopping experience,” said Steve Eastman, President, Target.com.

“As the only retailer offering this technology, we are proud to give our guests more ways to make the most of their dollar, which helps us deliver on our ‘Expect More. Pay Less.’ brand promise.”

My TargetWeekly is also on the Target Facebook fan page and users can share products and shopping experiences to create recommendations. The more users “love” a product, the better the recommendation engine becomes.