GRPN

As Groupon rushes into e- commerce, it needs to line up vast numbers of products to become profitable. To secure sufficient inventory, the company is developing software that will help small retailers easily set up flash sales on its Groupon Goods site.

The tool, called DealAdvisor, will let shopowners arrange sales for a fixed period, targeting the millions of visitors to Groupon’s pages. The feature is aimed at bringing more merchandise to the year-old Groupon Goods e-commerce service, Vice President Faisal Masud said in an interview. It’s in early testing and will be available next year, he said.

DealAdvisor, created in partnership with e-commerce software provider ChannelAdvisor Corp., will let smaller retailers offer deals with less human intervention than the current system. Rather than rely on Groupon’s buyers to find products, the system will encourage merchants that already sell on Amazon and EBay to offer their wares to Groupon Goods.