Daily Deals

Newsmakers 2011: Zulily CEO Darrell Cavens leads daily deal site to meteoric growth

by John Cook on November 18, 2011November 18, 2011 at 10:38 am 5 Comments

Zulily CEO Darrell Cavens likes to move fast, tackling opportunities before the moment passes. And no one, and I mean no one, moved as quickly in Seattle tech as Cavens… Read More

Wishpot jumps into the very crowded arena of travel deals

by John Cook on October 6, 2011October 6, 2011 at 8:22 am 2 Comments

Wishpot faces no shortage of competition with its new daily deal service for travel. After all, in the past few months Groupon and Expedia have launched a new daily deal… Read More

Zulily’s Mark Vadon: ‘This is more QVC than Amazon’

by John Cook on October 4, 2011October 4, 2011 at 10:56 am 5 Comments

I’ve been absolutely fascinated by the meteoric rise of Zulily, the Seattle daily deal site which now boasts more than four million members who turn to it every day to… Read More

NFL great Lawyer Milloy is an iPhone app fanatic: And, yes, he’s an Angry Birder too

by John Cook on September 23, 2011October 1, 2011 at 2:49 am1 Comment

As a free safety for the New England Patriots, Lawyer Milloy was known for some smashing hits. Now, the Tacoma native and former University of Washington standout spends a good… Read More

One place for daily deals: Microsoft Bing’s new aggregation site

by Todd Bishop on September 23, 2011September 23, 2011 at 8:49 am 2 Comments

Microsoft this morning launched Bing Deals, aiming to make its search engine a destination for the wide variety of daily deals available to consumers in many cities and regions these… Read More

Here are the problems facing Groupon and Living Social: Scale, repeat customers and targeting

by John Cook on September 16, 2011September 16, 2011 at 11:26 am 3 Comments

Are Groupon and Living Social the next great things in online advertising? Or, are they just a flash in the pan? That was the fascinating debate which broke out earlier… Read More

Amazon integrates AmazonLocal deals service into Kindle

by Todd Bishop on September 15, 2011September 15, 2011 at 6:57 am 2 Comments

Would you like a deal on ice cream along with your daily read? That’s one of the questions Amazon.com’s Kindle will be asking its users as the company brings AmazonLocal… Read More

Google Offers sets its sights on Groupon with whale of a deal at The Seattle Aquarium

by John Cook on September 6, 2011September 7, 2011 at 8:11 am 3 Comments

Google Offers is finally arriving on the shores of Seattle, and it is looking to make chum out of rival Groupon with a half off discount on tickets for the… Read More

AmazonLocal deals hit NYC: Now in 30 locations, 10 states

by Todd Bishop on August 25, 2011August 25, 2011 at 6:56 am 2 Comments

Amazon.com is quickly becoming a sizable player in the booming and competitive market for local deals. The company announced this morning that its AmazonLocal deals marketplace will be expanding into… Read More

Kindle Daily Deal: Amazon debuts e-book discounts

by Todd Bishop on August 24, 2011August 24, 2011 at 9:46 am 4 Comments

Amazon.com this morning debuted a new e-book discount program, Kindle Daily Deal, that will offer one Kindle book each day at a specially discounted price. Depending on the quality of… Read More

Meet Darrell Cavens: The guy who just raised $43M and wants to change how moms shop for kids

by John Cook on August 11, 2011May 27, 2012 at 3:06 pm 6 Comments

Startups, by their very nature, are built to move fast. But Zulily, the Seattle daily deal site that just scored $43 million in venture capital, takes the concept to an… Read More

Daily deal site Zulily raises $43 million at huge valuation of more than $700 million

by John Cook on August 10, 2011August 11, 2011 at 7:49 am 27 Comments

Plopped in the middle of Zulily’s Seattle office is a colorful cardboard rocket ship marking the entrance to the company’s HR and recruiting department. It’s a popular destination. The daily… Read More

Morning Radar: Pirq launches a Groupon rival; Insitu’s new aircraft

by John Cook on August 4, 2011August 4, 2011 at 10:41 amComment

Pirq, the mobile daily deal startup led by James Sun, the former star on “The Apprentice,” has officially launched its iPhone app. The free app allows users to browse offers… Read More

Morning Radar: Windows Phone’s new logo, TechStars as reality TV, and more

by GeekWire on August 2, 2011October 1, 2011 at 2:49 am1 Comment

Microsoft’s Windows Phone appears to be getting a new logo — shifting from a round icon to a square one that more closely matches the mobile operating system’s tile interface. The new… Read More

With ex-Yahoo execs at the helm, ChoozOn raises $3.2 million to help sort through daily deal clutter

by John Cook on August 2, 2011August 2, 2011 at 7:32 amComment

ChoozOn, the Bellevue company that helps consumers sort through the clutter of daily deals, has raised a $3.2 million first round of financing. Investors include Michael Orsak of Worldview Technology Partners… Read More

After working with Oprah, Tina Kirkpatrick looks to put Gilt City on the map in Seattle

by John Cook on July 31, 2011July 31, 2011 at 7:40 pm 2 Comments

Tina Kirkpatrick spent the past few years in Chicago, including a stint working as a buyer for Oprah’s Harpo Productions. But the 33-year-old Seattle native is excited to be back… Read More

Gilt City arrives in Seattle, offers deals on spas, meals and movies

by John Cook on July 17, 2011July 17, 2011 at 11:21 pm1 Comment

Get ready shoppers. Gilt Groupe today is launching its Gilt City private sale service in Seattle, one of four new cities that the luxury online retailer is setting up in… Read More

Off & Away unfurls daily deal service for hotel rooms

by John Cook on June 30, 2011July 1, 2011 at 7:42 amComment

Off & Away has quietly rolled out a new private sale service that allows its users to sign up for daily deals on luxury hotel rooms, earning discounts of as… Read More

Ex-star of ‘The Apprentice’ James Sun takes on Groupon with Pirq

by John Cook on June 7, 2011June 7, 2011 at 5:20 am 15 Comments

One of the big problems with daily deal sites like Groupon and Living Social is that the offers tend to attract customers at peak business times, causing havoc for small… Read More

IPO filing reveals Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz’s stake in Groupon

by John Cook on June 2, 2011June 2, 2011 at 1:55 pm 3 Comments

Groupon’s growth rate over the past two years has been absolutely insane. Consider this: The daily deal site had just 37 employees and 152,203 subscribers in June 2009. It now… Read More

Fast growing Groupon files for $750 million IPO despite $522 million deficit

by John Cook on June 2, 2011June 2, 2011 at 1:49 pm 2 Comments

IPO fever continues to spread through the ranks of technology companies. The latest to catch the bug is Groupon, which today announced that it plans to raise up to $750… Read More

Is Portland the new Peoria? Google Offers arrives at Floyd’s

by John Cook on June 1, 2011June 8, 2011 at 3:54 pm1 Comment

For years, marketers wondered how their products or services would play in Peoria. Now, is Portland becoming that marketing hotspot for the digital generation? Google thinks so, choosing the Rose… Read More

Tippr buys DealPop social buying site from WhitePages

by Todd Bishop on June 1, 2011June 1, 2011 at 7:51 am1 Comment

Tippr, the group buying technology company, has acquired the social buying website DealPop from WhitePages. The deal was was announced by the two Seattle-based companies this morning. Tippr says it… Read More

Seattle daily deal site Zulily signs big lease for Sodo office building

by John Cook on May 20, 2011May 20, 2011 at 3:28 pm 5 Comments

We’ve been hearing rumors for weeks now about Zulily’s insane growth curve and aspirations for bigger offices. Now, word comes that the company — which features daily deals for baby… Read More

BigTip: A deal site for the burbs

by John Cook on May 19, 2011May 19, 2011 at 11:00 am 2 Comments

We’ve certainly seen a number of daily deal sites trying to emulate the success of Groupon and Living Social. And now, get ready for yet another entrant. BigTip — a… Read More

Ex-Yahoo execs create ChoozOn to sift through the daily deal clutter

by John Cook on April 26, 2011April 26, 2011 at 5:17 amComment

Groupon, Living Social and hundreds of other daily deal sites are great … when they offer something of interest. But, more often than not, these sites miss the mark with… Read More

Once a ‘daily deal’ naysayer, TeachStreet’s Dave Schappell gets the fever

by John Cook on April 6, 2011April 6, 2011 at 7:56 am 7 Comments

A few months ago, TeachStreet founder Dave Schappell was lamenting the fact that nearly everyone he bumped into asked about his company’s “Groupon strategy.” Schappell didn’t like the hype, but… Read More

Groupon, LivingSocial challenged over terms of daily deals

by Todd Bishop on March 28, 2011March 28, 2011 at 12:56 pm 6 Comments

More and more people have been embracing daily deals, figuring out how to work within the rules and limitations to score sweet discounts from local merchants. The phenomenon has made… Read More

Report: More than 320 daily deal sites operate in the U.S.

by John Cook on March 22, 2011March 22, 2011 at 8:00 amComment

Maybe there actually is some room for all of those Groupon clones. A new report out from Local Offer Network estimates that Americans will spend a whopping $2.6 billion on… Read More

Now there’s an online marketplace for daily deals

by John Cook on March 21, 2011March 21, 2011 at 10:07 am 2 Comments

There’s been a lot of activity in the daily deal space in recent weeks. And now Tippr — the Seattle startup — is looking to elevate things a bit with… Read More