First came Groupon, now daily deal services abound

In a mad rush, the advertising world has fallen head over heels in love with daily discount deals.

Websites like Groupon, LivingSocial, Gilt, the Tribune's own DailyDeal.TBO.com, and a string of others have hit pay dirt with a marketing concept that's spot on with our exhaustion with being so frugal: A once-a-day ridiculous discount on something we've probably long denied ourselves.

A nice massage, an artisan pizza, a nice round of golf, Botox even. Now, when our e-mail boxes go "ding" with 50 or 75-percent off deal for our favorite place - who's not going to reach for their credit card?

To be sure, there are good coupons to be had in lots of places. The Entertainment books of coupons sold through fundraisers have been stuffed with these deep discount deals for years. But somehow this nascent, online "collective buying" business model is exploding with success - partly because the deal companies can ever-so-profitably play middleman.

Here's how they typically work:

Daily deal sites recruit subscribers to receive daily e-mail or text-message blasts with a ridiculous discount on a fixed number of coupons. Even if 9 out of 10 deals don't interest you, there's probably one deal you'll jump to redeem. And with the site LivingSocial.com, if you recruit three of your friends to take the offer, your deal becomes free. How viral is that?

Daily deal sites can offer a merchant a near guarantee that customers will show up, coupon in hand. That's because most daily deal sites require subscribers to pay up front for the deal, such as $10 for $20 worth of pizza. It's why some merchants have actually complained that too many customers showed up after posting deals.

To throw out one statistic that captures the frenzy, in Tampa Bay alone, Groupon has more than 200,000 subscribers and is adding 1,000 per day. Groupon just received its second round of venture capital financing, roughly $130 million total. Even paper coupon giant Valpak is getting in on the action with a daily deal website.

But not all daily deal sites are created equal. Some have caveats, like mailing a paper voucher for deals -- to your U.S. mailbox. So here's a rundown of the most popular sites offering local deals.

Groupon:

Founded in Chicago in November 2008, Groupon is considered the star of the daily deal universe, with more than 17 million users in 29 countries as of September. Groupon sends a daily e-mail to subscribers in a given market. If enough people opt into the deal before midnight to reach a pre-set threshold, Groupon completes the transactions for everyone enrolled, and a coupon appears in the subscriber's e-mail inbox.

Recent deals:

$69 for One Slim Body Wrap at Hollywood Body Wraps ($159 Value).

$25 for $50 Worth of Athletic Shoes and Apparel at athletic store Feet First.

$25 for a Manatee Encounter at Snorkel with Manatees ($49 value.)

ValpakDeals.com

Known as the blue-envelope-full-of-coupons company, Valpak's "Pak Deals" will focus on one local product or service each day, offered for 24-hours at discount of 45-percent or more. Customers effectively purchase the deal in advance, but unlike Groupon, there's no minimum number of customers required before deal becomes active. Valpak then sends a link to a Web page where customers print the deal - though mobile phone redemption is possible too.

Deals: None yet. The service will launch in November in Long Island, N.Y., Omaha, Neb., New Haven, Conn., and Las Vegas, and will expand across the Valpak franchise network during 2011, with the Tampa Bay area in the mix.

DailyDeal.TBO.com

Promoted in Tampa Bay by the Tribune's parent company, the Florida Communications Group. Similar to Groupon, the service offers a specific deal each morning to subscribers. If enough subscribers purchase the deal to reach a threshold, the deal becomes active, and subscribers receive a confirmation e-mail the next day with the coupon. Twist: Website service subscribers
get $10 in "Deal Bucks" when someone they refer buys their first deal.

Recent Deals:

$10 for $20 worth of drinks at coffee shop Tre Amici.

$10 for $20 worth of pizza from Mellow Mushroom.

$15 for $30 of merchandize at Bucs and Bulls Heaven.

HalfOffDepot.com

Based in Atlanta and affiliated with the St. Petersburg Times, this discount service offers a fixed number of discounts on a specific merchant or service provider. Twist: With roughly half the deals, the company prints a paper voucher and mails it to the subscriber's physical address. Other deals have an instant print feature. Launched in the Tampa Bay area in August 2009, it claims several hundred thousand subscribers nationwide.

Recent Deals:

$25 for $50 worth of wine at The Wine Cellar.

$12.50 for $25 credit at Babalu Restaurant and Bar.

$65 for $130 worth of "vibradermabrasion" at Tampa Laser & Esthetics Spa.

LivingSocial.com

Based in Washington, LivingSocial offers a daily deal with discounts up to 95 percent. The company now claims 85 million subscribers in 89 markets. It does not require a set number of buyers to trigger deal. Twist: After subscribers buy a deal, they receive a unique e-mail link to share. If three other people buy the deal through that link, then the first subscriber's deal is free.

Recent Deals:

Manicure/Pedicure and "microdermabrasion" at Avalon Med Spa and Laser Center for $55, save 65 percent.

Pole-dancing classes at Kiss N Tale Pole Fitness for $45, save 57 percent.

Segway tours from All About Fun Tours for $25, save 50 percent.

SocialBuy.com

Now in 50 cities, subscribers to SocialBuy.com "buy" into a deal. If enough people do too, the deal becomes active. The website includes a countdown clock. Twist: Sometimes it offers unusual items, like concert tickets and extra credits for people the original subscriber enlists. The company did not return calls for this listing, so look for details on each deal.

Recent Deals:

$242 for a $323 pair of tickets to Carrie Underwood concert in Tampa, lower level, reserved seating.

$415 for a $518 pair of tickets to Roger Waters performing "The Wall" in Tampa, lower level seating.

Woot.com:

We include Woot as a prime mover in the daily deal universe. Based near Dallas, Woot.com offers one product each day at midnight in a liquidation-style sale. When they're sold out, they're sold out. (When the "I Want One" electronic button starts bouncing, inventory is almost gone.) Originally focused on electronics, Woot now offers a wider range of products.

Recent deals:

Kolcraft Recline 'N Dine High Chair, $25.99. Suggested retail from Kolcraft, $49.99.

Polaroid 14MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom & 2.7" LCD Screen $89.99. Amazon.com lists a similar version for $119.

Pedemonte 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford, Napa Valley - 3 Pack $59.99. Exact matches not found elsewhere. Pedemonte sells a somewhat similar wine online for $26 per bottle.

SendSavings.com

Perhaps proving there's no guarantees in business, Tampa-based SendSavings effectively shut down its deal offer operations this month. The project had signed up non-profits like Lowry Park Zoo to recruit their members to receive text message discount deals, with a 5-cent donation to the non-profit for each message. After enlisting about 8,500 subscribers, SendSavings effectively halted the service for more testing and research.

Others:

If your favorite service isn't in this list, don't consider it an intentional snub. There are suddenly a slew of other deal companies are starting up, typically starting in one city, then expanding market to market. Among those in other cities that could come here soon, GiltCity.com out of New York, BuyWithMe.com with 10 U.S. markets, and Tippr.com in 24 cities and counting.