Black Friday fills me with a sense of anticipation — and apprehension. Part of me wants to get up at the crack of dawn (or not go to sleep) and snag those deals that seem to be so elusive the rest of the year. But the part of me that loves sleep thinks it's all hype anyway and my family isn't exchanging gifts anyway.
But then The Dealmap mobile app comes along and shows me a way to make the hunt a little more appetizing, by giving me the heads-up on deals close to me! (Thank you, TechCrunch, for giving me the heads-up on The Dealmap, which on its regular site sends e-mails and shows deals nearby, or wherever designated. It also keeps score a la Foursquare with a "Leaderboard" for "Deal Heroes" that can add up to free stuff.).
The Dealmap's mobile app has more than 165,000 Black Friday deals at 52,000 U.S. retail locations. More than 300,000 people have installed the app within the past three months.
The app, free for the iPhone and Android phones, uses your phone's GPS to pull up deals. Tapping on those details gives you more flushed-out reviews and ways to buy the goods instantly.
It'll come in really handy on Friday, when you arrive 5 minutes after Target opens and realize you've been beaten to the Blu-ray DVD player you've had your eye on and need to move on, fast! The mobile app uses location awareness to keep the user apprised of the sales going on all around them.
Mobile app users will be notified if there are Black Friday sales near their locations. In its release about Black Friday sales, The Dealmap cites a recent research study that revealed "that finding store locations is the most valuable location-based feature among mobile users," and also noted that "a third of respondents would be willing to travel more than 5 miles to redeem a retail offer they received on their mobile device."
Businesses that don't want to miss out on the action can submit offers directly to The Dealmap and tag the offer with "Black Friday."
