Create a site that functions much like Groupon.com, LivingSocial.com, and Homerun.com.  
The project will include coding and implementation - we have designers on staff and can help with all testing. We have the ability to build this in-house but want to move quickly so we're looking for a qualified individual / team to get this done.
The website should allow us to sell coupons for businesses. The coupon will give the buyer a product or service at a business for a discounted price (the coupon). 

We should also have the ability to turn on or off a minimum amount sold in order for this ‘deal' occur. 
For example, there may be a featured offer / coupon on the site that requires a minimum of 10 or 20 people to purchase it before the deal goes ‘live'. If the minimum number is not met, nobody will receive the ‘deal' and nobody will be charged for it. This would be an option built into the back-end and we would be able to either use it and set it to a certain minimum or not use it at all. 

Once the deal is valid (the minimum is sold) or the purchase is made (on offers without a minimum buy need) users’ credit cards are charged and they receive an email with a personalized printable coupon or coupon code (for online retailers). 
While we're open to various CMS options we're mainly leaning towards Wordpress since we're very familiar with it. 
We have in-house designers and you/your team will be provided with a complete mock up as a layered PSD, InDesign file or other mutually agreed upon format.
Functionality specs of the site:
• An attractive email template/homepage that’s friendly, easily amended & incorporates text & images
• Individual user/consumer accounts – - A "sign in" feature that collects the customers information so we know when they are signed in and to make the checkout process easier.  Facebook Connect and Open Graph is a must. Also we will need to incorporate Twitter into this as well. In their account we'll need be able to track purchases, store credit card info, manage preferences, etc.

• Data must be exportable to utilize either in-house or more likely a third-party email database manager.  (Open for service recommendations on this one)• Payment processing. We will have the SSL certificate and the payment gateway information to plug in.

• Ability to track total dollars saved across the whole site and by city/region.
• Ability to track & display on the deal page deal progress (how many people have purchased the deal etc).
• Backend analytics – ability to track & easily display percentage of deals that have reached a minimum number of buyers, number of times a deal has been viewed, etc - we'll need to provide transparent reporting to clients. Charts, graphs etc are a must.
• The site needs to work in and be optimized for all browsers

• The basics: about us, contact us, TOS, etc

• Ability to check the deal status on the coupon listing (how many have been sold, how many are remaining to have the deal go “live”, how many in total are remaining before it sells out, etc.)
• Once the deal reaches the minimum number of buyers, the users credit card is charged, they get an email with a personalized printable coupon (or a link to their "deals" page on our site so they can print it) or discount code with a link to an online retailer
• For each deal, a comments or discussion section where people can post comments, ask questions on today's product and rate it.  There should be an administrator login where we can answer questions for all members to see.

Secure administrative login that allows us to:
• Create an attractive “page” for each coupon with text, images and any/all rules & regulations of the daily offer
• Each coupon will need the following fields: Deal ID Number; Price Paid (by the individual that purchased the deal); User's full name, Unique code for each coupon, Coupon Value; Short Description; Logo; Address of the Business; Key Terms & Conditions (expiration date, etc._
• An on / off switch for minimum purchases (and for maximum purchases as well)
• Start date/time and end date/time for each deal. Once that's up the deal expires and is archived in another section of the site.
Post Purchase:
• After purchase, an email is automatically sent with details of the offer to buyers.  This would prompt them to send the deal to a friend.  
• We need the ability to allow users to sync their activity on the site to their facebook & twitter pages through something like Facebook connect (i.e. "I just bought X – you should buy it too!").  Facebook Open Graph should be here as well.
The User Experience:
• Find out about a deal via email or from a Facebook or Twitter notification
• See total dollars saved to date across the whole site (and in their region)
• Log onto the site (or create a new account) and buy the deal using a credit card.  They should also be able to manage preferences, edit their password, see their history, reprint deals they have bought in the past, etc.

Spread the word by:
o emailing a friend
o Facebook Open Graph
o Signing in via Facebook and Twitter 
o Social news widgets etc.
o The ability for a user to import contacts from Facebook, Hotmail, Gmail, Linkedin, Twitter etc. and refer contacts to our site.

Upcoming deals: 
This will be a page on the website (and will be individualized per city/region so the offers are focused) that gives the user a preview of what offers are coming up in the next few days.  
There should be a "forum" like comment section on this that logged in users can guess what the next deal is (and the first one to guess it will win that "deal").
Geography:
• At launch we will likely want the ability to scale to 3 to 5 cities so design will be provided with this scalability in mind
Advertiser:
• The ability for merchants to login to the site and see total coupons purchased for their specific ‘Deal'.
• The ability to check-off coupons that have already been claimed by a member.
• The ability to print a list of coupons outstanding (not yet redeemed).
Want this job?  
Please include answers to the following questions in addition to your response.
• What platform would you use to develop this site?  The more detailed you are here the better chance you have to get this work.
• What are your areas of expertise within web development and web programming?

• We want to get to work and get this done right away - what's the time frame?

• How much time do you think it would take you to build such a site described here.  How much more time will you need for testing?  What will be your methodology for testing?

• Send links to websites you have built in the past that are similar in function and look to the Groupon, etc. and tell me what you have worked on within those websites.  I would expect to be able to do a reference call with the owner of the websites you list.  If it is competitive to what we are proposing here, then I would like some proof from you that you actually worked on it (as we won't be able to contact those sites).
• Explain to me how you would deal with scalability.  If this is successful, how are we certain it will be able to handle massive traffic?
If you send a generic cover letter or fail to answer to the questions above we will hit the "delete" key :)

Keywords - Web Development | Web Programming

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