Local commerce · Local deals marketplace
Coo: a flat-fee local deals marketplace for small businesses
Coo is a local deals marketplace where small businesses publish offers for a flat monthly fee with no commission. We built it in 6 weeks. In its first year 2,100 businesses joined across four cities, customers redeemed 310,000 deals, and 68% of redemptions came from people who had never visited that business.
- Client
- Coo the App
- Industry
- Local commerce
- Built
- Web app
- Timeframe
- 6 weeks
What changed
- 2,100 businesseslisted in the first year across four cities
- 47 new customersa month for the average merchant through published deals
- $29 a monthflat cost, replacing coupon-book fees that ran into the hundreds
- 310,000 redemptionsof deals in year one
- 68% first visitsof redemptions came from customers new to that business
- 6 weeksfrom kickoff to a finished build
Results as reported for this build after launch.
The challenge
Small businesses struggled to win new customers consistently and had no low-cost digital channel for promoting offers to people nearby.
Daily deal sites took a commission and filled seats with one-time bargain hunters. Printed coupon books cost hundreds per placement with no measurement, and social media needed staff time a four-person business does not have.
The client came from local retail and saw the same thing for ten years. A deals company calls, the business sells a hundred half-price vouchers plus commission, serves a hundred people who never return, and decides digital marketing does not work.
What the client asked for was direct: a channel a hairdresser or hardware shop could pay for at a fixed monthly cost, that showed deals to people living nearby, and that told the owner how many came through the door.
Discovery for customers, measurement for merchants, and no cut of the sale.
What we built
We built a local deals marketplace with a merchant dashboard, proximity-based discovery for customers and in-store redemption that needs no point-of-sale integration.
Pricing is a flat monthly subscription with no commission, a structural choice built into the product rather than a pricing tweak.
Three-minute deal setup
Merchants publish and schedule deals from a dashboard with templates for common cases like a quiet Tuesday, end of season or a new customer offer. Creating a deal takes about three minutes, the constraint everything else was designed around.
Nearby deal discovery
Customers see deals by distance and category, save them to a wallet and get a reminder before they expire.
Code-based redemption
Customers show a code in store and staff confirm it, so no point-of-sale integration is required.
Merchant analytics
Owners see redemption counts, the split between new and repeat customers, and which deal types work in their category against anonymised local benchmarks.
Always-on business profiles
Profiles carry opening hours, photos and contact details, so a listing still works when no deal is running.
Screens and design system
The result
Merchants renew because of the 68% new-customer figure. It answers the main complaint about deal platforms, that they just discount your existing regulars.
Flat pricing was harder to sell at first and is why retention held. Merchants burned by commission models needed the maths explained once, then stayed. Two more metros are being added, with merchant referrals doing most of the acquisition.
