Rate Your Groupons

With new revamps to its website, Groupon says users, like men who don't want spa treatments, will be able to give such offers a thumbs down.

Image: Portfolio File Photo

Groupon, hoping to maintain its lead over rivals, is adding new technology to its website so that its users can, among other things, give deals a thumbs up or thumbs down and receive more personalized offers.

The move, reported today by Bloomberg Businessweek, addresses a common gripe about Groupon, which is that users are deluged with deals that they would never use—such as men who get deals for a bikini wax offer that is clearly aimed at women (although some guys might go for manscaping offers that involve similar waxing deals for men, and presumably a thumbs up will reveal that too.)

“Our goal is six months from now, when you go to Groupon, it’s going to look and feel very different,” Groupon Chief Executive Officer Andrew Mason told Businessweek in a recent interview. “It’s going to be a much more robust and refined service that immediately jumps off the page.”

Many of the changes stem from the employees at the company’s Palo Alto, California, office, which it opened in 2010, Mason said.

Groupon, which went public last fall and is based in Chicago, has been honing its technology chops lately, including acquiring various Silicon Valley technology startups in recent months, with the latest being big data startup Adku just last week.