28 Aug 10 The best sites for local deals
I’ve become a big fan of the recent collective buying movement: startups negotiate a deal with a local merchant which gives the consumer a discount to try the place out. They write up a quick pitch and send out each day’s deal to the user-chosen metropolitan location in a direct response email blast. The spa/restaurant/salon/tour/trip company gets a large number of first-timers in the door (it usually takes around 15 purchasers to trigger the group deal/price in order to ensure it’s worth the establishment’s while). Customers get a great deal, with savings anywhere from 5%-90%, and merchants treat it as a worthwhile loss leader since the customers are usually locals who will come back after a good experience.
The landscape has exploded with many new players (especially with Groupon’s enormous $1.35B valuation) so I’ve compiled a list of some my favorite sites below. They are sorted alphabetically below:
- Bloomspot: My two purchases from them include a gift certificate to Whole Foods which cost $6 for $15 of groceries as well as a restaurant
voucher at Pasita in the West Village (this time $36 for $62 value). These two purchases show an exploration of the local deal coupled with the occasional national chain. Both are also great deals, and with the Whole Foods coupon, there were just about no limitations, so it’s money spent either way for me! - Groupon: The biggest in the field and one with lots of potential based simply on their head-start. They would be really smart to get into the
data-mining side of their business and leverage their substantial sales volume. It’s well-known that they have thousands of merchants on their waiting list. Groupon should be sorting users by buying type and offering deals to small sections of their audience — people buy based on deal category, proximity, price point…these are all data points that Groupon can/should use to start eating into that wait-list, and explore offers which amount to personalized deals to their users. - kgbdeals: I bought from them a 50% off home cleaning (comes out to $30 for 3 hours of cleaning time, with all the necessary equipment provided
by the cleaner!). kgbdeals is part of the greater kgb umbrella brand which includes the kgb service — basically just a pay version of ChaCha — as well as 118 118 and 118 218, two directory assistance subsidiaries in England and France, respectively). - LivingSocial: Spa treatment is my most recent purchase, a great deal @ $90 for a Spa Package: Foot Bath, and Choice of a One-Hour Facial or
Guerlain Impériale Massage (1,599 were purchased!). UPDATE: I got an email from LivingSocial this week saying that this spa (which is/was at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel) is closing, so the deal has been refunded. Boo. - Scoop St. Deals: I recently bought from them a 50% savings for Wednesday Jazz nights at Flute (which has two convenient
locations near me). It should be fun since it makes for 2 bottles of champagne for a total cost of $40, which is enough for a rather big group to enjoy. Plus, as the name implies, Wednesday nights mean live jazz from 8pm-midnight! - Zozi: They focus mainly on trips and events (think: wine tastings, kayaking tours, etc.) but they have had some great deals — and even a recent
giveaway for some free Zozi credits. Zozi is a great company to check out and add to your daily emails in the morning. Their team really knows what it’s doing, and I’m looking forward to buying my first Zozi experience soon!
One company I have not yet tried for deals is Yelp, which just announced they would also venture into the space. While Yelp is better known for its local reviews (I think I linked to their site about 5 times in this post), they are a newbie to the collective buying/deals space. Still, I wouldn’t count out their large and loyal user base as a starter for the platform.
PS- If you’re interested in signing up for any/all of the above services, I’ve linked to my personal referral pages: please consider signing up via those links so I can get some free credits — thanks!
Tags: bloomspot, chacha, collective buying, deals, discounts, groupon, kayak tours, kgbdeals, livingsocial, pasita, scoop st. deals, spa, whole foods, wine tasting, yelp, zozi
