Five and Fifty uses SMS to offer Groupon-like deals

As a cheapskate, I absolutely love the Groupons and LivingSocials of the world even though I know that deep down I’m not really saving much because I probably would have never went to those places in the first place. Still, I love me some deals and that’s why the Five and Fifty service stood out to me at the Launch conference. This service is trying to bring Groupon-like deals to your phone using SMS.

The name Five and Fifty comes from the fact that the deals must be good for at least 50% off and they can only be good for five hours. This is supposed to combat one of the major problems with Groupon – the deals can last for up to a year but that initial crunch means some deals can’t be redeemed until months after you’ve purchased.

Five and Fifty is primarily aimed at the huge perishable goods market. Let’s say there’s a cupcake shop up the street that has 200 cupcakes it wants to get rid of. The business owner could just hit the website, tailor the deal and for a few dollars, interested customers would be able to receive an SMS for a discount. As you can see from the photo above, we were able to snag a free cupcake.

It’s an interesting idea and Five and Fifty is standing out from the crowd by not taking as large of a cut from the deal from the restaurant or business. For something like Groupon, it gets about 50% of the deal when the customer buys but this service will let the service send out a few hundred targeted text messages for just a few dollars.

The service will soon go live in San Francisco and Kansas City, with plans for other major cities to come within the coming weeks and months.

[Via FiveandFifty]