Get Rs 100 off on rail tickets

New Delhi: Following the success of its 'onion deal' last year, eCommerce firm Groupon India has partnered Spice Safar to offer a new 'Rail Deal' under which consumers will get Rs 100 off on rail tickets.  Under the deal, which goes live today, Groupon India will offer 1,000 coupons everyday for Rs 9.

Using the coupon, consumers can book rail tickets using Spice Safar app to get  Rs 100 off on a transaction.  "Last year, we had the onion deal under which we sold 23,000 kgs of onions. We wanted to bring a deal that would have the wow factor. Rail journey is something all of us have done at some point in time but there are never discounts on  that," said Groupon India CEO Ankur Warikoo

With today's deal, consumers will get that benefit as well, he added.  The discount will be borne by the two firms, as Railways does not offer any discounts. He, however, declined to divulge  any details.  "There are offers on air travel but not on railways, which is one of the most used mode of travel in the country.  We wanted to give our users a unique offer on that," he said. 

Warikoo added that he expects this deal to also take off  well with students and small business owners taking the lead.  Starting today, the offer would be available for five days and each day, 1,000 coupons would be put up for purchase  at 12 noon everyday. 

Saket Agarwal, CEO of Spice Safar, said: "Consumers today  rely on mobile apps whether it is for booking tickets or  paying bills. Our association with Groupon aims to reach out  to our valuable customers and make ticket booking a  hassle-free experience."  Spice Safar has 90,000 users in the country.  Last year, Groupon India announced a unique marketing  strategy to offer onions at Rs 9 a kg to the first 3,000  bidders every day for seven days.

The offer became so popular  that it resulted in a flood of traffic that temporarily  overloaded the company's servers, crashing the site.  Launched in 2008 and publicly listed on the NYSE in 2011,  Groupon offers daily deals across categories like food and  beverages, wellness and travel. It has a presence in over 48  countries and has over 200 million subscribers.  "India is the fastest growing country for Groupon. We  have seen business growing upwards of 100 per cent  year-on-year. F&B and wellness comprise 60 per cent of our  sales here," Warikoo said.