Food & Drink

Seattle’s Daily Deal Startups Are Banking on Groupon’s Success

Several local companies are offering niche deals for local sale seekers.

By Jennifer Lee May 12, 2011

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This article originally appeared in the June 2011 issue of Seattle magazine.

Thanks to Groupon’s booming success, daily-deal companies are sprouting up all over. In the last year, several seattle websites have put a niche spin on the popular online discount model.

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
Tippr (tippr.com)
Boasts 50 to 90 percent off prices, and unlike other sites, features Accelerated Deals—the more people who purchase, the greater the discount for everyone.
SAMPLE DEAL:
$89 for a $186 tour of Woodinville’s boutique wineries

DO GOOD
Ideal Network (idealnetwork.com)
Ideal donates as much as 25 percent of your purchase amount to a philanthropic cause you choose from a list of partnering local organizations, such as People for Puget Sound.
SAMPLE DEAL:
$10 for $20’s worth of Pagliacci Pizza

DUDE DISCOUNTS
Dealometry (dealometry.com)
Discounts for sale-savvy men, such as the website’s launch deal on “Manpacks,” a service that delivers underwear, socks and other masculine essentials to your door.
SAMPLE DEAL:
$23 for $45’s worth of merchandise at American Athletics

MOM APLOMB
Zulily (zulily.com)
Ongoing deals up to 90 pecent off on everything from maternity clothes to baby cribs to kids’ swimwear from popular boutique brands, all sortable by age.
SAMPLE DEAL:
Up to 35 percent off Baby Sherpa plush animal backpacks

SPECIAL-INTEREST DEALS
Kudos Community (kudoscommunity.com)
Users can tailor coupons to interests and “follow” local businesses. Also: With each purchase, 25 percent of proceeds go to local charities users select from a large database.
SAMPLE DEAL:
$20 for $50’s worth of food at BluWater

PASSES FOR CLASSES
TeachStreet (teachstreet.com)
An online clearinghouse for all manner of local classes, TeachStreet offers weekly deals on instruction—from knitting to dancing to guitar picking to foreign languages.
SAMPLE DEAL:
$25 for a $59 Arthur Murray Dance class package

 

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