Saveology jumped into the daily deals space as an ambitious greenhorn, snagging hard-to-get national brands, such as Apple, thanks in part to its quick payout to clients of 70% of the total purchases in 7 days (Groupon and LivingSocial take significantly longer). It entered the space with 4.5 million addresses attained through the other side of its business, which sells home services, such as satellite TV, on a massive scale. Saveology hopes to entice frustrated Groupon clients by offering them other ways of making money, such as email lead generation and overstock clearance. Not to be outdone, Groupon just leapt into the big-brand space last week with $500 discount on a car--meaning that the daily deals industry is likely moving beyond the small business frontier.

Many thrifty Groupon users visit patrons for a one-time deals and then never return--angering small businesses who justified the significant price cut as a marketing cost. To habituate loyal customers, SCVNGR's LevelUp offers increasingly tempting offers, like $10 worth of food for $5 at Boston's Boloco burrito chain on the first visit, $25 worth of food for only $10 on the return, culminating in a burrito-splosion of $45 worth of food for $15 at the third level. After shelling out oodles of discounted product, LevelUp clients hope they've created a customer for life.

Angling for the demographic that controls a significant portion of household spending power, Plum District showcases deep discounts on mom necessities: toys, makeup--even legal will forms. As of July 13th, Plum District announced it will also move into the advice and inspiration space.

Corporations are people too (really) and want to enjoy hot-hot discounts every bit as much as the next guy. RapidBuyr offers tempting business-friendly deals on printers, pens, and online backup services.

To give readers an idea of the break-neck evolutionary speed of daily deals, MarketSharing, a daily deals for office services, bust on to the scene only a few weeks after Fast Company wrote about RapidBuy. MarketSharing offers deals on team-building exercises, convenient parking, and in-office messages. Give employees the luxuries of working at a fancy technology giant without the enormous overhead (there's even a deal to get 2,000 Facebook likes for your business for half off. Buying friends was never so cheap!)

Facebook busted onto the daily deals scene with a socially-integrated coupon, encouraging users to share their new found deal with friends and be thrifty together. Groupon, of course, had the option to share (and tweet) daily deals, but Facebook had the advantage of not forcing the user into the inconvenient process of linking accounts. The added convenience likely means more sharing, and a more attractive proposal to businesses using deals as word-of-mouth advertisements.