In an attempt to provide further incentive to users, Ask.com just launched Ask Deals. The new service already offers more than 1 million discounts from national and local merchants across the country. From clothing sales to restaurant discounts, the IAC search engine is using its search technology to offer savings to its online audiences.
Says Ask President Scott Garrell, "Searches for coupons on Ask.com have shot up almost 50% in 2009. With the holidays approaching, we know this service will help us make an impact with our users."
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One of Ask's member prospecting strategies is to target large like-minded communities. In the past the company has reached out to groups like the Nascar and breast cancer communities. Today's effort targets the deal hunter in a what Garrell describes as a "search stimulus package".
In early August, ReadWriteWeb covered Yahoo's recent Deals launch. Similar to Yahoo Deals, Ask Deals aggregates coupons and sales in a separate and easy-to-use shopping channel. However, when it comes to search, Yahoo redirects users to the Yahoo Deals page while Ask blends deals directly into standard results. In an effort to save consumers time, Ask also attempts to link directly to coupons and savings that are listed up front. For example, when you search for clothing, deals are listed from best to worst in terms of percentage of discount. From here users can share deals via Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Delicious and Digg.
Sale news is available to members via the website, email and the Ask Deals Twittter account. Users can also install the Ask Deals homepage skin to see the featured "Deals of the Day". To install the skin visit Ask.com/skins.