PC Mall Inc. is entering the online coupon business by leveraging its existing OnSale.com site, which will offer Groupon-style daily deals beyond the company’s traditional tech base.

The Torrance company, which also announced higher first quarter earnings late Tuesday, is known as a direct marketer of technology products and services to corporate, institutional and individual customers via targeted websites.

Hyper-local deal websites enable restaurants, merchants and service providers to offer coupons and specials to potential nearby customers via email, based on their ZIP code. Chief Executive Frank Khulusi said that despite the huge presence of Groupon and a growing number of competitors, PC Mall is capable of carving out its own niche in the segment.

“This emerging market, fueled by the social web, has quickly evolved into an important growth channel for merchants,” said Khulusi in a statement. “Though there are others in this market that have raised significant capital and have a bit of a head start on us, from a launch perspective this market is massive.”

OnSale has begun partnering with merchants that will offer discounts and is soliciting consumers to sign up to receive daily offers once the service launches during the current quarter.

PC Mall reported net income of $727,000 (6 cents per share), compared with $173,000 (1 cent) a year earlier. Net sales rose 16 percent to nearly $336 million. The results included a $500,000 charge related to writing off old Apple inventory, and expenses of $500,000 related to launching the revamped OnSale.com business.

Shares on Wednesday closed down 44 cents, or 4.5 percent, to $9.30 on the Nasdaq.