City Council: Will Mission Viejo Compete with Groupon?

Apparently the Mission Viejo City Council has not discounted the popularity of websites like Groupon and LivingSocial. On Monday, the Council will discuss funding a similar website supporting Mission Viejo-based businesses.

If approved, the Monday proposal will provide $3,300 for website consulting. Like all contracts of this amount, the Council will also grant the city manager the right to pay up to $30,000 total for additional work if necessary. The businesses listed would have to operate from the city to be elligible for the site.

The contract would be given to Victoria Alberty-Degoede, a Huntington Beach resident who owns The Local HB.com according to a staff report.

The idea is partly based on surfcitsavings.com, a website supported by the City of Huntington Beach. That site receives about 10,000 hits a month according to a staff report.

To post a coupon on the site would be free, unlike Groupon, Deputy City Manager Karen Wylie said. But the city would still benefit, she said.

“Everytime a business in Mission Viejo makes a sale where the state sales tax applies, we get a little tiny piece of that," Wylie said. "So we want our businesses to be successful. It’s the right thing to do. It helps those businesses.”

To read more from the Monday agenda, click here.