What Exactly Is A Daily Deal Site
Daily deal site have started springing up like weeds since Groupon caught on. There were more than 200 daily deal sites in the US alone in December. Mobile loyalty card app CardStar declared it has become the very first application of its kind to partner with Groupon, the incredibly hot daily deal service, and users of its iPhone and Android applications in more than 160 locations will have location-specific access to Groupon offers.
Users of the CardStar are allowed to scan or manually enter all the shopping rewards cards in a single application where their smartphone’s screen will scan at the cash register before they check out. Generally speaking, the app focuses on cards that users already have or ones that they get separately from CardStar. But with this new version of the software, users can now sign up for new cards directly through the app, and with the Groupon deal, membership isn’t even required to view the daily deals.
A little sales tag appears next to the card’s name whenever there’s an active deal when you added the Groupon card to CardStar. And when you click on it, it will go to the interface within the application that’s been designed to feel like the Groupon site. The app shares your location and user data with Groupon, and if you’ve looked at a deal, but didn’t buy into it, you can go back to it later on the Groupon site and it knows that you saw it on CardStar.
Though much smaller than monster websites such as Groupon and LivingSocial.com, SharingSpree.com and RunDaisy.com are trying to break through consumers’ and shop owners’ daily deal fatigue in a multibillion-dollar industry. While charities get donations with almost no effort on their part, the deals are intended to help businesses boost foot traffic with no upfront costs. In return, the websites get promoted to the often-extensive e-mail lists of donors and volunteers that the typical non-profit operation maintains.
Every purchase they make at Sharing Spree includes 5% donation to the particular charity if a subscriber chooses a default charity. In addition, 10 percent of proceeds are directed to one of about 60 charities chosen for that day. Participating businesses can choose to link their deals to a participating charity or even suggest their own favorite cause, which Sharing Spree will then feature on the day of their deal.
RunDaisy makes a point to feature small start-ups or unusual retailers, such as art galleries, even if it means just three people buy a deal. On average, about 50 deals are purchased daily by the site’s 5,000 subscribers. Sharing Spree said more than 100,000 people view their deals in Nashville. About half of deals purchased are by first time customers to a business. Consumers sign up online for a daily e-mail. Deals last only for a day, except on Friday, when the deals last all weekend.
The websites usually split the purchase price with the businesses, and the proceeds to charity come out of the website’s commission. Consumers normally have six months to one year to redeem a voucher once the deal is purchased. In some cases, a business will request a shorter expiration date to spark immediate sales.
Tired of all the e-mails flooding your inbox from the Daily Group Deal Sites with sub-par offers? Stress no more. There are now service providers which scan every daily deal site and only feature the best daily deals site, just for you. Happy shopping!