daily deals Archive

One of the things I’ve noticed as I browse Groupon and LivingSocial is that there are a number of deals that appear on both of the deal sites simultaneously. One of the local pizzerias seems to show up with the same deal on LivingSocial’s food “takeout and delivery” section and the Groupon Now! section at the same time.

From my research, the most popular nationwide deal appearing on both deal services is from Vistaprint. Usually the deals vary ever so slightly. For the balance of today, there are deals running on both sites – you can see an image of each below. The Groupon Vistaprint deal is available in the Little Rock section and the LivingSocial Vistaprint deal is available in the New York section.

The deals are:

• Groupon: $17 for $70 at Vistaprint
• LivingSocial: $10 for $50 at Vistaprint

Doing some simple math on my calculator, the LS deal works out slightly better. It’s important to note that Vistaprint changes their pricing when you come in via Groupon/LS so the prices you see on the general website will be lower than from a deal voucher.

The key take away from this post is that some simple searching on both services may find you an even better deal than the one you are currently considering.

As I work on getting in great shape, today’s Amazon Local deal really appealed to me. And as a deal hunter, I’ve seen thousands and thousands of deals from every segment you can imagine. From gun permit training to lingerie to Hawaiian vacations, I’ve seen it all. Or at least I thought I have until I found today’s deal on Amazon Local!

Just imagine this… you want to win a marathon – 26 miles of running, knocking people over to take their spot, hoping you can beat some guy or girl from another country and bring the belt back home to the USA. You trained, you said your prayers, you took your vitamins (brother!) and you are ready. But inevitably you will get a high number and start way back in the pack and have no real chance of making it to the finish line in first place. So instead you head to McDonalds for a 20 piece mcnugget and a large fry.

The good news is that now Amazon Local will put you in the front of the pack – for a fee of course. For just $29, Amazon Local will guarantee you get to start ahead of all of the “professional runners” in the Beantown Marathon. They note that if you pay the $29 you can, “take the last few weeks of training off and still achieve a personal best time”. Purchasing this deal gets you a 10 minute head start! That’s only $2.9 per minute!

The unfortunate thing is that at the time of this post, nearly 58,000 people have purchased the deal. So my guess is that you will be behind all of the other deal hunters but you will still get a 10 minute head start over the non-payers.

Lastly, if you finish the race on foot (you cannot take public transport!), Amazon will give you bowls of chili and beer.

I am so glad I made my purchase before they sell out! What are you waiting for?

note: obviously this is an april fools joke from amazon local!

Over the past year, both Living Social and Groupon have been adding new channels within their services. Living Social has been rapidly expanding their Gourmet and Home channels. I’ve noticed Groupon pumping their Goods channel heavily as of late. While most of the products in their Goods section seem to be closeouts or products that probably didn’t sell so well in retail, they seem to be selling like hotcakes on Groupon.

We’ve seen people who got married using Groupon and let’s not forget Greg’s proposal to Dana on Groupon last year. Today I noticed Groupon is pushing a full channel for weddings.  Interestingly the url doesn’t contain weddings but rather occasions so I wonder if Groupon will launch deal centers for other occasions.

The local wedding deals listed include (your deals may vary by location) tanning and salon services. Most of the page offers nationwide deals including name change services, engagement rings, wedding gowns, photography services, wedding invitations and of course the most critical honeymoon in Morocco or a safari in Africa.

Even though I am a huge deal hunter, I can’t imagine using a deal site for my wedding. Maybe invitations or other basics but would I want to worry that the honeymoon might not be absolutely perfect to save a few dollars?

Next Tuesday is the annual holiday known as Valentine’s Day. The day is named after St. Valentine and over 150 million cards are exchanged – here’s the full history of this very special day. This year the new deal sites are holding a cage match with each site offering a deal with a national floral delivery service. Most of these deals expire asap so you should be quick if you want to grab some flowers for your sweetie. Also note that the delivery fees are higher for a delivery on Valentine’s day. Lastly, I see some of the local cities within the deal sites are also offering flower deals so make sure to check your local city before purchasing a national deal.

If you want to pick up flowers yourself, I am hearing the best deal for super fresh roses is Whole Foods with 2 dozen for $19.99. Make sure to call your local store to get current pricing. If you don’t have a Whole Foods in your area, Walmart is offering 1 dozen roses for $15 beginning today.

LivingSocial – offers $25 for $50 credit at Teleflora. I used this deal yesterday for some flowers for my mom who is recovering after some surgery – note, there is a $15 or more service fee and Teleflora added me to their email marketing list even though I specifically unchecked the boxes to be added to their lists. Voucher may be applied towards service costs.

Groupon – offers $20 for $40 credit at FTD.com. Voucher may be applied towards service costs.

Google Offers – from what I can tell, this deal has now expired but they were offering 2 dozen roses, vase and shipping for $45.

Amazon Local – offers $15 for $30 credit at ProFlowers. Voucher may be applied towards service costs.

Eversave – offers $25 for 2 movie tickets and a $10 gift card good at 1-800-flowers.com.

It’s important to note that there are tons of discount codes available for most of the online florists so make sure to spend a few minutes to find the best deal for the floral arrangement you are interested in.

Continue reading “Deal Site Smackdown: The Valentine’s Day Edition” »

Today is the biggest shopping holiday of the year here in the U.S. known as Black Friday. It’s an exciting time for deal hunters who are generally willing to spend more than normal and on stuff they wouldn’t normally buy. This is the first Black Friday since the two new deal sites, Groupon and Living Social, have come onto the worldwide stage. And I have to say that I am very disappointed in the deals on both. The deals are just blah – nothing exciting, certainly not something worth waiting on line for if either company were a brick and mortar store.

Both had a chance to make an absolutely huge impression – neither did. Living Social has more national deals while Groupon has more electronics. I was hoping for some amazing national retailer deals – LS does note that more deals are coming for Cyber Monday.

Continue reading “Black Friday on Groupon & Living Social – Both Disappoint Deal Hunters” »

Groupon has announced that on Friday, November 18th, they will partner with local restaurants to offer a $1 lunch. The offer will run through their Groupon Now! service.

Regarding the partnership with Feeding America, Groupon notes, “To celebrate this event, we’ll also be partnering with Feeding America to provide half-a-million meals to families in need this holiday season.” I am unsure if Groupon is doing the donation or if it is through the deal they have posted which offers Groupon members to help support families in need with an $11 donation which can feed a family for two weeks.

The list of restaurants offering the $1 lunch will be provided on Friday morning and I am guessing there will be limits so make sure to check early in the AM. Also, the deals will most likely be limited to the cities that currently have Groupon Now! deals which include: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Orange County and Vancouver.

When I used a Groupon deal last week, I spoke with the retailer about the performance of the deal. She said that the regular deals worked pretty well but the Groupon Now deals haven’t performed. I told her that I think they hide the Groupon Now deals and sure enough when I got back to the office, the right side box with the Groupon Now deals was completely removed and now those deals are only available via the navbar link. Some have said that the Now deals are the future for Groupon – if this is the case, hiding those deals will mean very few people will ever see them.

Earlier today Living Social announced a new trial food ordering and delivery service. The new trial service reminds me of GoMobo.

This afternoon I received an email from LivingSocial on my LS account (not my CN editor email) that notes, “We need your feedback on a potential new service that LivingSocial might offer its members. Would you please take a few minutes to complete this very brief survey?” While the survey was longer than brief, the questions seem to indicate that LivingSocial may create a home improvement service. I know that LS offers some home services like carpet cleaning now, but this survey seemed to indicate something a bit deeper in merchant type and category.

Some of the survey questions included:

• “In the past 6 months, which of the following home improvements have you sent money on? This could include money for materials and/or labor.”
• “Approximately how much money did you spend on all home improvement projects in the past 6 months?”

The same questions are then repeated for the next six months. The survey also asked what items are most important for the home improvement services/merchants that are featured on LivingSocial. Some of the items included:

• merchant stand behind the quality of its work
• merchant would treat me with respect
• people doing the work would be certified
• the merchant would probably try to do more work than were really necessary

Continue reading “LivingSocial To Offer Local Home Improvement Services?” »