Information is power and there\’s nothing quite as powerful as getting something you want for half off! The problem is that you probably don\’t that thing you\’re looking for is half priced at some location. It\’s almost sad. If only you knew! At the Zipper, we\’re completely dedicated to eliminating sadness from the world or at least,this type of sadness. In our big assault on deal loss sadness, we introduce the Deal Channel on the Zipper. Make sure to take with a full meal!

So what is the Deals Channel and how is it going to become your new best shopping friend for local deals? Think about how you shop for things. Yes, you may buy a bunch of stuff on Amazon, Ebay, and online. In fact, on first glance, you probably think that most of your shopping is indeed online. Let\’s look a little closer. Been to Target lately? Have you been food shopping as of late? Of course, if you\’re notorious for eating out, there\’s the Eats Channel for you but for the rest of us, a trip to Safeway is pretty common. What about a trip to the Mall even if it is for a Starbucks coffee or to window shop. Throw in your favorite spot to buy cool summer cloths or a local skateboard, sports, or ______ (fill in the blank for whatever you\’re in to) and you start to see that a lot of your shopping real is local shopping. Okay, so we establish that in spite of the fact that any year, we\’ll all be zooming around with jet packs and living vicariously through the internet, a lot of our dollars go to local spots. So now what?

Now let\’s flip it around to one of those local stores you like to frequent. They clearly have stuff that you like but sometimes, they have too much one thing or they need to make room for something else. They can run ads or they can even partner up with one of the new darlings of the internet such as Groupon but that\’s a little more involved and it helps to be of a certain size in order to do that. This is just a little trendy clothing store that always seems to have their finger on the pulse of what you and every person you likes to wear before it\’s hot! If they run an add, the vast majority of the people who see it don\’t know why that pair of jeans is to die for (like your mom or Aunt Agnes) and you\’re really busy…probably didn\’t see the ad in between friends and homework and your part time job (not to mention hoops practice). That\’s the information we were talking about or better yet, a disconnect of information. One of your favorite stores is marking down one of your favorite brands by 50% to move it out and you HAVE NO IDEA. Bring in the Zipper Deals Channel.

This is the place to find local deals from local vendors. There may be threads by store name where you can check out your favorites. They may be by age or style. The best part is that it\’s all local and it\’s all instant. If a store wants to blow out some really cool leather jackets, boom they run it instantly to you smart phone Zipper app. It\’s like the home shopping channels where you see the numbers running down as people call in to buy the remaining products. The store doesn\’t even have to announce it. If a certain store is your favorite and you see they\’re blowing out your favorite games, post a Zip so other game heads know about it and then watch the Swarm. It\’s all about information and connecting two people or groups along an instant and intensely local basis to make everyone happy. The Deal Channel waits for you.

Dennis Jarvis writes extensively about local news and local gossip smart phone apps.