The country’s two major companies when it comes to daily deals has launched their versions of what can be called ‘instant deals.’ What is appealing about these deals is that a shopper does not need to stay at home and check the Internet with the computer just to avail of the good stuff.

LivingSocial calls it LivingSocial Instant while Groupon calls it Now Coupons. Basically, these are deals that are offered to shoppers for a short period of time to mobile phone users. How it works is like this: If a person has the LivingSocial app on their phone and they walk by an ice cream store that currently has promotions going on, LivingSocial Instant notifies them on their phone that there is a 50% off promotion at that particular store and it only runs for an hour.

This type of promotion is certainly something new, and something consumers will find interesting enough to try. Instant deals oftentimes get shoppers to make impulse buys, which will benefit the business that is running the promotion.

Another positive thing about instant deals is that the businesses running the promotions are able to have more control, unlike the group coupon system where businesses usually have no control over when consumers will be cashing in on the deal. With Groupon’s Now Coupons and LivingSocial Instant, both shoppers and business owners get something good out of the deal. Plus, these deals also offer a high possibility that customers will return to the store after having bought the service or product, even if it is in promotion or not. Currently, because instant deals are still relatively new, predicting its success will be hard. Only time will be able to tell if instant deals will really be a hit with shoppers.