Pluck It, a deals app that launched in Bethesda in October 2014, is now offering deals on restaurant and business services in D.C., Virginia and Maryland. Unlike other deal apps and websites, Pluck It does not charge businesses to appear on its app. "We're the first free [deal] platform for small businesses," says Blake Grandon, founder of Pluck It.
Groupon and competitors charge a sometimes hefty commission per deal sold to customers. "We will always be better than Groupon," says Grandon, a retailer whose family owns party-supply stores, "since we don't charge businesses." And
Spotluck, another Bethesda-based restaurant deal app,
charges restaurants $1 for every customer that uses the app.
Grandon was inspired to create the app to help "small businesses that don't have [an] ad budget to be able to afford something like Spotluck.
"We don't charge per person and we don't set a discount that businesses can offer," Grandon says. "We leave it up to them." As a result, Pluck It's offers differ from those of Spotluck. Where Spotluck offers a percentage off the bill while eating at Cleveland Park Bar and Grill (Cleveland Park is one of the Spotluck's newly launched D.C. hubs), Pluck It offers may include free desserts or free drinks with a lunch purchase. "We're not percentage based."
A sampling of current restaurants on the app include
Simply Banh Mi,
Yamas Mediterranean Grill and
Grand Central DC in D.C., "as well as hundreds of businesses at this time in Virginia," says Grandon. Pluck It also offers discounts on more than just restaurants. Users can claim discounts on flowers, balloons, and other retail goods and services. Once users log into the app with their Facebook account, they click a button to "pluck," or claim, the deal they want and show the deal to the server or cashier. "We're growing pretty quickly based on customer requests."
There is no cost to users or businesses; Pluck It is monetizing through ad revenue automatically generated through Apple and Google.