Local search and business review service Yelp is offering a sneak peak today of a new feature it is calling “Yelp Deals”.
The new feature will enter Yelp into a growing market of local-deal providers, with companies like Groupon and LivingSocial, by offering deals to what Yelp users spend most of their time looking for – local businesses.
The blog post on the Yelp Blog is light on details, but says that the company will begin offering “some great deals for our users” in cities like San Diego, San Francisco and New York. According to the blog, the deals are with “some of the best local businesses – as identified by the Yelp community”.
Looking at the deal highlighted in today’s post, we can garner a few more details.
It looks like the deals will be limited-time offerings, as a counter sits at the top of the screen counting down how long it will last. The coupon is available for purchase directly from Yelp and the deal can be redeemed by printing out or showing your confirmation on your phone to the business.
What is unclear, however, is whether or not this will be a feature that will be available for purchase directly from the Yelp app on your smartphone. If I’m in downtown San Diego and I’m looking for a good coffee shop, will I see a deal such as this appear or do I need to search from home to find the deal?’
Right now, it looks like the feature will only be available from the Web and the payment page only showed the ability to pay with a credit card, not PayPal or any other online payment system.
