Angie's List, a site that recommends local service providers based on their reputation and recommendation, is the latest company to borrow elements from the wildly successful Groupon.
Angie's List has begun sending discount offers on local services to users in Indianapolis, Washington, DC and Chicago. (via Business Week). It plans to send e-mail coupons to all of its 200 markets by the end of the year, according to founder Angie Hicks.
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Angie's List is the latest company to adopt this model that Groupon first developed but has since been endlessly copied. Other examples include DealOn, which just introduced OfferEx, an exchange where deal providers looking to sell more coupons to connect with publishers who want to choose the deals most relevant to their audiences and the lowest commissions.
Also ServiceMagic is launching its own deal offerings focused on home improvement and maintenance services, in 15 cities, according to Greg Sterling, principal of Sterling Market Intelligence. These deals will be different in several respects, he says: there won't be a daily deal; it will be more occasional and the consumer doesn't pay up front but only when service is rendered. The deals are very aggressive, at 50% off, but only open to a subset of ServiceMagic’s roster of 80K service professionals.