5 Awesome Alternatives to Groupon

By Linsey Knerl (from Wise Bread) on February 10, 2011

Don't get me wrong. I love Groupon. Unfortunately for them (and "yeah" for me), the market for this kind of daily deal offering is opening up, resulting in more deals, on more sites, and in more cities. If glancing at one good buy a day is leaving you wanting for more, check out these six discount sites that are giving the original a run for its money.

Living Social
This is perhaps one of the most established of the wannabes giving deals on the same kind of offerings as Groupon. Hair salons, golf packages, food, and entertainment are the core deals to this rapidly expanding site. Living Social has been a front-runner in the female audience, being advertised on many women's lifestyle sites and Mommy Blogs, and why not? The deals rarely see out, and many of them are extremely family friendly. Mini-golf, anyone?

Hot tip: Feel like seeing the site without dropping a dime? Check the bottom of the deal page for exciting places you can visit in your area. Some won't cost a thing!

Living Social's mobile shopping app has also received lots of praise from reviewers:

Woot
It's been around since Groupon was a twinkle in someone's eye, and yet, it often gets forgotten about. When the idea of an experience gift has you flummoxed, this retailer of tangible merchandise may be your ticket to the perfect 24-hour hot deal. Be fast, however, because Woot deals sell out as quickly as they arrive - at least the good ones do, anyway. For an idea of how community-driven the site is be sure to check out their comments and forums. They are good for a laugh, even when your pocketbook prevents you from actually buying.

Hot tip: Thought Woot was good only for tech gadgets? Their sister sites, Kids.Woot, Wine.Woot, and Shirt.Woot may have just what you are looking for in other shopping categories.

BuyWithMe
If the 24-hour deal makes you feel rushed (and caters to your weakness for making impulsive buys), BuyWithMe may be more your speed. The deals offered on this site usually last seven days, giving you time to chew on the purchase before you decide. While the cities offering deals are limited, they are growing quickly!

Hot tip: Don't count that deal chicken before it hatches. Unless there is a minimum number of buy-ins for any group deal, it won't be valid for anyone. Watch the progress of any deal you're interested in to see if it's popular enough to succeed. (And definitely don't make concrete plans around any deal that hasn't reached its goal.)

Tippr
Shoppers in 13 of the largest U.S. cities can get their hands on some great deals via this up-and-coming daily bargain site. Not only does Tippr offer three deals per day per city, the price for each offer decreases with an increase of buy-ins. Past deals have included some posh rewards, like salon services, but don't rule it out for the every day. Bumper repair was one of the most recent deals, giving buyers $200 of services for just 89 bucks.

Hot tip: Don't worry about your purchase being offered for less somewhere else. Tippr gives buyers a low-price guarantee, which means you can skip shopping around!

8Coupons
Many of the competitors that were researched require an email subscription before they'll even show you a deal, and worse yet, some of them bait you to enter your email, select a city, and then tell you that your city will be "added soon." If the idea of giving out your email or cluttering up your inbox for the promise of a deal doesn't appeal to you, consider the user-friendliness of daily deal aggregates: 8Coupons. Not only does it list all the deals from the top sites (including Groupon, Tippr, BuyWithMe and others), it lets you search via map or zip code.

Hot tip: Some places in this world (like my town of 1,800) will never be on a daily deals site. 8Coupons gives us suburbanites some retail therapy with the sharing of deals at national franchises and small shops in the places we live. They aren't daily 50% - 90% off bargains, but it sure beats paying full price!

Do you have a daily deal site that's changed your life? Let us know why it's earned a top spot in your email box!

[Top image credit: iStockphoto]