There has been an explosion of deal sites across America, and like many cities, Austin’s in love with their daily deals. Here at Shoestring Austin, we’ve signed up for plenty of these sites (Living Social, Groupon and Localiter, to name a few), each offering one new deal per day, with deep discounts at local businesses.
Even though we all love deals, there can be drawbacks to using these sites. The most common complaint is that while the discounts are certainly large enough to pique a buyer’s interest, the quality of participating businesses can vary widely. If you can’t find much information about the products or services offered, why would you care about getting a deal on these items? This is especially true with new businesses, who may not even have a web presence, much less any accurate online reviews by real consumers.
The second biggest complaint about deal sites is that they usually require buying a coupon or voucher. This is fine if you can remember to use your coupons or vouchers, but let’s face it: some of us are forgetful, or just plain busy, and this can end up becoming a waste of money instead of the promised huge savings.
Another issue doesn’t directly affect consumers, but comes back to bite us with the ol’ trickle-down effect. For businesses that offer deals through these websites, this is actually a very expensive marketing maneuver. Not only are they offering at least 50% off the price to consumers, but they also have to pay up to 50% of the price of their coupon to the sites offering the deal. In effect, for each deal that these businesses offer, they have to give up at least 75% off the value of their products or services. And guess who ends up paying for this in the long run? You guessed it: we, the consumers.
Enter Dealuv
With the goal of improving on the deal-a-day coupon system, Austin-based newcomer Dealuv has come up with something completely different. Deals on their site are all FREE. That’s right: you don’t have to buy vouchers anymore! Instead, vouchers are totally free to print and redeem, in exchange for sharing the deal on your Facebook and/or Twitter accounts. As a result, whenever you share your favorite deals with friends, a viral effect is triggered, encouraging a self-sustaining community of deals between local businesses and consumers.
With a variety of hand-picked businesses, instead of one-off deals from nationwide chains, Dealuv also seeks to ensure that only quality products and services are available to their customers. Participating businesses are all locally-based, and include everything from restaurants (El Chile Cafe y Cantina, Masala Wok, Red’s Porch) to spas (5R Bodywork & Massage, FaceToFace Spa at Avery Ranch) to auto mechanics (Auto Techs, Northwest Imports) to upscale clothing retailers (Astor and Black).
Another bonus? Sharing your Dealuv scores actually gets you even more deals! Members earn reward points for participating in various activities on the site, including sharing deals, inviting friends to join the site, writing (private) feedback for businesses, and more. Reward points can be redeemed in the form of gift cards from affiliated businesses, or donated as cash to the charity of your choice. How cool is that?
Tired of losing your coupons and forgetting to cash in your deals? Want to get more out of your online deals? Why not give Dealuv a try? With free vouchers and sweet rewards for participating, there’s literally nothing to lose!
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Tags: 5R Bodywork & Massage, Astor and Black, Austin deal sites, auto mechanics, Auto Techs, clothing retailers, daily deal sites, Dealuv, donating to local charities, El Chile Cafe y Cantina, FaceToFace Spa at Avery Ranch, fashion, free vouchers, gift cards, Groupon, hand-picked local businesses, Living Social, Localiter, Masala Wok, Northwest Imports, Red's Porch, restaurants, reward points, spas, trickle-down effect
