Ever since they came up with the idea, Groupon and LivingSocial have shared the riches of daily deal success. They’ve each offered different discounts from vendors that expire after a given amount of time. Both companies have succeeded, and they’ve shared the wealth. But now, a New York upriser is beckoning at their golden castles, flamethrowers in hand. Signpost is ready to give them both a run for their (discounted) money.

At first glance, Signpost looks like a Groupon copycat, with daily deals and a steady stream of morning emails. But a closer look proves that there’s more to it than just that. Users can browse for different deals based on preferences, and there are a significant amount of categories to choose from. People can also browse for what deals are closest to their current location. But what really sets Signpost apart is how deals are posted. Signpost puts up some deals in the same way that Groupon does in the daily email. But individual vendors can also put up their own deals and offer a certain amount of them to buy, which don’t expire until they’re all bought. Each user can also post their own deals that they find. For example, people have put up deals like a bar that has a late night happy hour on weekends. There’s no deal to buy, but it’s just a signpost (get it?) of where to go for a good deal at a certain time. The user deals can range from a good lunch special to a free concert taking place in a park. It’s easy to find which posts are for actual deals and which are just recommendations, since Signpost has a ‘Stuff You Can Buy’ tab, which makes sorting it all out easy.

Conclusion

It’s easy to think that Signpost is just copying Groupon when first looking at its site. The daily deals are laid out in a way that makes it seem like a follower of what already exists. But once people get to the user deals and the different ways to find what they really want, it’s clear that this site is something new. In a way, it takes Groupon and gives it an Urbandaddy-ish spin that recommends the best places to go for great deals. With that social recommendation twist, Signpost could become the place to be for value seekers. Take that, Groupon, with your clever name and all.