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Maybe it’s the girl in me, because I love window shopping (emphasis on “window”, because because I am on a tight budget since moving out of my parents’ house). So whenever my sister and I chance upon Nike or Giordano having a sale, we go all out (we once bought about three pairs of pants and a top in one go). But that only happens if we're lucky.

What if I knew exactly when and where the sale would take place? That would definitely make my life easier. What if I could dictate when and where the sale would take place? Even better.

Why am I still using “what if”s? Social shopping sites like LivingSocial, Groupon and Woot already do that.

Living Social

According to their About Us page: “LivingSocial connects consumers to cool stuff.” Yeah, they are as simple as that.

At LivingSocial, you pick a city (sorry, only works in the US), be it New York, LA, or the OC, and they will give you the daily deal of that particular city. Since Taipei is not on their radar, I picked NYC...

... and the daily deal for today is: for a hula-hooping class...? Well, I’m not interested in that, even if they let me save 50%.

Let’s see other cities (click on more cities)... Oh, and I see Tampa offers 50% off Schakolad Chocolate Factory. The deal is worth $15, but with that you can get $30 worth of Specialty Chocolate, Coffee, and Gelato, yum. I’m not from Tampa, but maybe some of my Twitter followers are, so I’ve tweeted that. Yes, when you see an awesome deal that maybe your friends might be interested in, you can share it to them via Twitter, Facebook or email. And if, after you bought the deal, three of your friends also buy it, it's now yours for free. So how does LivingSocial work anyway

"Yup, it’s that simple."

Groupon

Remember I asked if I could dictate when a deal is going to happen? Well, Groupon allows you to do that. Sort of, anyway.

First I go to the Groupon website, and I sign up, and select a city (since Taipei is not in the US, I select New York again). I hope it is not another hula hoop deal. And yeah, it isn’t...

...it’s just bowling. I don't really bowl; the ball is too heavy for me. But anyway, you can buy the deal for $13, but the deal doesn’t activate until at least 100 other people buy it as well. See what I mean about being able to dictate a deal?

If you find a deal that you really, really like (“$15 for $30 Worth of Creative American Cuisine and Drinks at Café Dufrain” in Tampa again)...

...then you can get 75 of your friends (they have different quotas of people for different deals) to buy the deal as well. The food in the picture looks yummy. Below each Groupon deal is information about the company, and reviews! Café Dufrain has some awesome reviews.

So... how does Groupon work?

How’s that for dictating your deals?

Woot

And the Woot item for the day is...

... containers.

According to the Woot site, Woot is an online store that sells cool stuff really cheaply. So that’s $4.99 + $5 shipping for ten plastic containers. Is it really cheaper? I buy my containers for only $1.20 each, so times ten that would be... Huh, so Woot is cheaper. Maybe I should get one?

Woot only sells one item a day, so you have to check in every day for new items. I remember seeing a laptop as yesterday’s Woot item. Now, that would be a really nice deal.

Woot also has a community forum, where users can talk about each Woot item. It even includes statistics about each Woot item sold.

I can’t wait for tomorrow’s Woot item! Please be laptop, please be laptop...

How does Taketake fit in all this?

Why not talk about your favorite LivingSocial and Groupon deals? And your favorite Woot items? Our team is hard at work to bring you a whole new way to interact with the amazing products and experiences around us.