Groupon just reported an 89 percent revenue jump for Q1 2012, compared with the same quarter of 2011. In North America its 75 percent growth was attributed in part to deal personalization, a targeting tool that will soon launch internationally. Groupon customers grew YOY 140 percent, to 36.9 million, with sales from repeat buyers 150 percent of those “doing a deal” for the first time.   The new Groupon Rewards loyalty program, only in certain major markets at this point, brought 2500 merchants into the Daily Deals fold. More than half of first-time merchants returned to place later Deals with the site.

Market research firm ForeSee was commissioned to study both merchant and customer satisfaction with Groupon. The Daily Deals behemoth scored an 83 with customers and 79 with merchants, way ahead of most online retailers.

The jump from 25 percent to 30 percent mobile access from December 2011 to March 2012 may have been the catalyst for the new “up-to-the-minute” Groupon Now success, with 1.5 million Now deals sold.

With past store-owner complaints that Groupon was being far too selective in its choice of who could offer Deals, it’s nice to see that merchants are declaring their happiness with a Deals site.  We suspect that merchant approval is partly due to the Groupon Merchant Center, where merchants can track response, administer and see the history of their deals, and manage their Groupon Rewards activity. Here’s the earnings report.