Groupon now discounts love

Riding on the success of TVB reality dating shows “Bride Wannabes” in 2012 and the recently-ended “Bachelors at War”, Groupon Hong Kong is adding speed-dating to its portfolio of discount-buy offers with a partnership with America-based dating website, eSynchrony.The resulting deal lets users subscribe to the database and contact potential partners during the offer period.More than 130 deals were sold since the new offering debuted yesterday.“The topic of speed dating has been extremely popular given the TVB shows, so people are really more accepting and open-minded to engage in these services,” said Sophia Lai, head of marketing at Groupon Hong Kong.“We started this service last year in a group setting but feel that we can now extend to a one-to-one environment.”A year ago, the group-buying service tapped into this market in a “play date” setting where participants were put into groups and interacted with one another through ice-breaking games.