The eDeals industry (think Daily Deals, Flash Sales, Coupons/Vouchers, Social Commerce, etc) has been experiencing both substantial growth and significant challenges over the last couple years.  Groupon and Living Social have obviously been the biggest news (not all of positive of course).  But they’re just a small part of what’s becoming an increasingly crowded space.  In France alone there are over 100 eDeal sites and across Europe 1,800, with 150 new sites launching in the last year.  France, by the way, can also rightfully claim some level of pioneer status in this sector with its private deal giants Vente Priveé and Showroom Privé and is also making waves in the area of social shopping (i.e. Prixing, Shopmium, Skerou).  All this change and growth spurred the formation of an association called the eDeal Association whose principal objective is to give a public and more unified voice to the eDeal community and to help foster the continued growth of the industry. Since its founding in 2011, the association has launched various initiatives, however this March 5 – 6th in London, they’ll kick-off their biggest and most ambitious – the first eDeal Summit.

If your working in, launching a business in, or are just generally interested in the sector, you should make a point to attend.  The organizers have put together a solid programme, bringing together industry leaders from across Europe and beyond to discuss the rapid evolution of the eCommerce Deals industry. The Summit will also bring together up to 200 brands and merchants looking to learn more about and network with the industry, so plenty of opportunity if you’re an entrepreneur in this space to work on bringing more brands to your platform.

30% off and 1 Free Tickets for Rude Baguette Readers

If you’d like to attend, the organizers have given Rude Baguette readers a special 30% off rate through next Friday with the code ‘RUDEDEAL’.  You can get your discounted ticket here.

As a media partner, the organizers have also kindly given us one free ticket which, as always, we give away to on of our lucky readers. We’ve decided to give the ticket away to one of our followers of our Linkedin Company Page – whether you’re a new follower or not, go onto our page and share the announcement about the eDeals summit, and follow our page to be entered to win! We’ll announce the winners tomorrow!

Event details
Date:  March 5 – 6, 2013
Location: London,  Skyloft London and Altitude 360 (yes, you also get great views over London too!)