Gilt City, Brad's Deals, Daily Candy Review
We Review Gilt City, Daily Candy and Brad's Deals
Daily Candy: Another site like Groupon? Not exactly. Daily Candy looks more like an online magazine or blog. It's got a little more of a focus on fashion than other sites offering sales each day, thus, women make up the majority of users. It services 12 major U.S. cities in addition to London, and you can view deals by area or by category. You can also view all deals covering all cities at once; the layout is pretty easy to navigate in list form. You can also get a daily newsletter emailed to you, plus there's an iPhone app. Deals include 74-percent off Puma bikes and sales at major retailers like Bloomingdale's.
This site gets great reviews from both Viewpoints and SiteJabber users. SiteJabber posters say the newsletter has good deals, few bad ones, and puts everything in a quickly-digestible format. Due to the fashion bent, several Viewpoints users love that the site tells them what's affordably trendy and fashionable at the moment. Users on this site also like the creativity and the well-written analysis of various trends. This is a site we'd recommend using, though men might feel a bit left out in the fashion department.
Gilt City: One of the more recent startup sites to offer sales each day, Gilt City was built off Gilt, which allows users to sign up for up to 60-percent off luxury brands. Gilt City, which already has an iPhone app, only expanded to include more cities than its inaugural New York last fall. It's now in six cities total and claims to offer up to 75-percent off on certain deals. There are categories like food and drink, shows and events, and retail and services, and deals offered daily for a limited time. Pretty standard compared to other daily deals sites.
Where the site gets interesting is in its bargained-down offers for luxurious places like Hamptons night clubs and country clubs. The site admits it's aimed at a more "high-end" clientele. Another interesting component is that the site lets users buy up to five coupons on a single deal, something other sites prohibit. According to a TechCrunch review, the site has failed to drum up the kind of excitement and demand that others offering sales each day, like Groupon, do. This site had few reviews -- maybe because rich people don't bother to write evaluations. All kidding aside, a USA Today review points out that even with the discounts, the deals are still pretty pricey for the average budget-conscious consumer. It gives the example of a wine and cheese tasting offer marked down from $130 to $75. Deals also go very quickly, the review states. Since this site is targeted more at wealthier folks, it's not something we can recommend for Cheapism.
Brad's Deals: Maybe people like this site because it has an actual person's name in the title. Brad's Deals says the deals are hand-picked by Brad himself (Brad, by the way, is Brad Wilson, who founded the site in 2001 when he was a poor college student). Perhaps it makes it more personal than a name like "Groupon", which exposes the group mentality of buyers. It's similar in setup to other sites selling sales each day that we've seen, and Top 10 Reviews likens it to DealNews, which we reviewed favorably. There is a list of coupons with codes and discount percentages. You can also search for coupons yourself. There are heaps of deals for the major retailers like Target and giveaways for prizes like iPads. There's also a blog offering budget-friendly tips.
Users and review sites love Brad. Top 10 Reviews says it's easy to navigate and packs more punch than other deals sites with its new steals and printable coupon code sections. Deals are legitimate, come in a wide variety, and offer good price cuts. One of the best pros to BradsDeals is that it puts all the info -- coupon code, expiration date, any extra details you need to know -- in one spot so you don't have to look in multiple areas. This really adds convenience for users. A single SiteJabber user praises the site for its cheap finds and the blog FrugalNovice loves that Brad consolidates and regularly updates deals. We stand behind this site as a good way to find sales each day.
