GROUPON

LivingSocial Integration

After Groupon acquired LivingSocial in 2016, the team set out to white label Groupon’s back-end, front-end, and servicing architecture. The goal was to streamline all systems and processes so that multiple brands could operate on the same platform. This cross-functional project touched over 60 work streams across 5 departments and 😴😴😴.

tl;dr - We rebuilt LivingSocial on Groupon’s infrastructure. It took 6 months. I learned about all sorts of things I never thought I would, like escheatment law.

Groupon.com and LivingSocial.com share the same underlying infrastructure, but are able to operate completely independently, with distinct merchandising, customer accounts, and inventory. Any improvements made to one brand automatically roll out to the other, preventing duplicative product and engineering work.

Data Catalog

Groupon has a lot of data. It’s pretty well catalogued. As for the data about the data, (a.k.a. the metadata)…it needed some work.

• Search (leveraging a UX that is familiar to anyone that uses the internet)

• An easy to navigate page for each data asset that contains everything data users need to know

• Symbols of trust - like a “Verified” tag, letting data users know which tables are actively maintained and up-to-date