The Dealmix Promotes Search As A Differentiator

One of the complaints often leveled against email-delivered daily deals is that they’re not “relevant.” A refrain I’ve heard repeatedly is, “How many ‘main-pedi’ deals do I need?” To combat this “deal fatigue,” a range of sites, including Yipit, Groupon and Google, among others, have introduced personalization. But some would argue search is a better cure.

Now a couple of Google engineers have launched The Dealmix to bring Google-like search and mapping functionality to daily deal shopping.

The site offers a map view, as well as a list view. There are also numerous ways to filter deals, for example by category and Yelp rating. The Dealmix is putting Yelp reviews into its listings/results to shortcut the process of making a decision about whether to buy a deal. (Typically people look at review sites and Yelp in particular when deciding about buying deals.)

As mentioned, users can search by keyword or phrase to find precisely the kinds of deals they’re looking for. This offers a very different experience vs. passively receiving deals in email. The Dealmix is, however, not the first or the only site to offer deal search. Bing does a great job with keyword-based deal search. Google’s The Dealmap and Citysearch also offer deal search.

The Dealmix’s map view is also very helpful, especially when looking for travel deals. This enables people to see if there are any deals for vacations or hotels in areas they’re already planning to go. However, again, the site is not the only one to offer map-based search functionality. Although I believe this travel deals map-search functionality is unique.

Interestingly Google Offers currently doesn’t have deal search of any kind (though Google’s The Dealmap does). One would expect that to change in the not-too-distant future. In addition, deals are increasingly surfacing in Google.com search results.

As a marketing vehicle, both local and national, deals are very much here to stay (for those who remain skeptical) online and in mobile. Deals will also probably play a major role in holiday gift giving this year.