Groupon Gets More Chicago-Based Competition

Even though every day it seems like another group-buying site is popping up out of no where, the larger trend for these companies seems now to be one of consolidation. Groupon competitor BuyWithMe has just snatched up the Chicago-based Deal-A-Day Online.

Crain's points out that BuyWithMe has raised $22 million, Living Social has raised about $450 million, and Groupon has raised more than $1 billion.

So for those keeping score at home, the market is slowly becoming less fragmented, and with AT&T, Facebook, and Google joining the fray, we're likely to see the divide between copycats and heavy-hitters grow. To wit, BuyWithME CEO Jim Crowley told Crain's:

I think there is room for six or seven large players, as well as niche players.

Which could be true. Among recent-or-planned launches are Manbargains.com (which specializes in manly deals), jdeal.com (for Jewish deals -- coming soon), and greendeals.org (for those who want eco-friendly deals) all immediately leap to mind as über-specialized facilitators.

The question for now, though, is whether these laser-focused sites will wilt or eventually overtake the more general model. 

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