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Groupon Unveils Self-Serve, DIY Deal-Making Tool for Merchants The Chicago-based website released Deal Builder, an option that allows business owners to automatically build a custom promotion.

By Catherine Clifford

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

You can order your groceries to be delivered to your door all online, without speaking to a person, ever. And so, it makes sense that you should be able to build a digital promotion online without ever speaking to a person, too.

Today, Chicago-based daily-deal website Groupon unveiled a new tool called Deal Builder that allows merchants to construct a promotion without ever having to speak with a representative. With a series of online templates, the new tool, which can be found on GrouponWorks.com, means that you can build a custom deal for your business. The deal will not automatically be blasted to the entire metro-area in a Groupon email, which for some smaller merchants can feel overwhelming, but will be searchable in the Groupon database.

Related: Groupon Moves Deeper in the Discount Space With 'Freebies'

The product has been in beta with 10,000 business owners and today was released to the public. You fill out your basic contact information, construct the deal and how many you want to release, electronically sign the contract and you are off to the races.

"By expanding the number of ways that merchants can work with Groupon, we're providing our customers with even more great local business options when they want to do or buy just about anything, anywhere, anytime," says said Dan Roarty, vice president of product development at Groupon, in a statement.

If you run into a problem, you can always reach a Groupon rep with a live chat. Again, no talking on the phone required. As it should be.

Related: Groupon Scoops Up Fashion Flash-Sale Site Ideeli for a Cool $43 Million

Catherine Clifford

Frequently covers crowdfunding, the sharing economy and social entrepreneurship.

Catherine Clifford is a senior writer at Entrepreneur.com. Previously, she was the small business reporter at CNNMoney and an assistant in the New York bureau for CNN. Catherine attended Columbia University where she earned a bachelor's degree. She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. Email her at CClifford@entrepreneur.com. You can follow her on Twitter at @CatClifford.

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