Today's daily deal? Who cares.

By Jessica Dickler, staff writer


NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- After Gilt Groupies changed the 12 o'clock hour and Groupon made vouchers cool, users may finally be over it all.

Traffic to flash sales and daily deal sites has been dropping over the past few months, according to online traffic monitor comScore. Gilt is down 22% since the start of 2011, and Groupon has fallen off 13% during the same time period. (Both are still up year over year.)

Considering the eruption of new deal sites, it's not surprising that more shoppers are boycotting rather than buying.

In just the past two years daily deals and flash sale sites have grown so huge that they inspired a slew of copycats -- like LivingSocial, BuyWithMe, Rue La La, ideeli, Beyond the Rack, Swirl and HauteLook -- and second-market sites where consumers can unload those impulse purchases.

Sales at these sites grew 60% in 2009 and 70% in 2010, according to American Express Business Insights, which tracks the spending habits of its 90 million cardholders. But now consumers may have hit their saturation point.

"My inbox is inundated with sale emails that I delete. I don't read them anymore because they all blend together," Ruby, 24, said.

Leslie Holland, 49, says she occasionally buys deals from Groupon and LivingSocial when they offer discounts at stores or restaurants near her home in Louisville, Ky., but otherwise deletes sale notifications from Rue La La, Gilt and Swirl among others.

"I delete at least 100-150 emails a day, most from sale sites," she said. "Too many sales start at noon and I can't stop in the middle of my day to buy things I don't need."

Roger Adams, 38, goes one step further. He says he used to delete them but "now I go and actually unsubscribe to those that send too many emails."

In reaction, some sites, like Savings.com, are aggregating daily deals into one email customized to each user's preferences. But even these services have a hard time standing out in a crowd.

"With daily deals, spring sales, free parking at the airport, there are amazing deals but there's just a deluge of deals coming to you at every angle. It's becoming more challenging," said Savings.com CEO Loren Bendele.

Ultimately, only the strongest sites will survive, predicts Larry Joseloff, a vice president of Shop.org, a division of the National Retail Federation.

"It's kind of like social networking," he said. "At one point everyone was trying to build a social network, but there can be some overkill. A normal individual is not willing to be part of 10 networks." To top of page

Frontline troops push for solar energy
The U.S. Marines are testing renewable energy technologies like solar to reduce costs and casualties associated with fossil fuels. Play
25 Best Places to find rich singles
Looking for Mr. or Ms. Moneybags? Hunt down the perfect mate in these wealthy cities, which are brimming with unattached professionals. More
Fun festivals: Twins to mustard to pirates!
You'll see double in Twinsburg, Ohio, and Ketchup lovers should beware in Middleton, WI. Here's some of the best and strangest town festivals. Play
Overnight Avg Rate Latest Change Last Week
30 yr fixed3.56%3.68%
15 yr fixed2.78%2.91%
5/1 ARM2.62%2.79%
30 yr refi3.55%3.75%
15 yr refi2.77%2.99%
Rate data provided
by Bankrate.com
View rates in your area
 
Find personalized rates:
Index Last Change % Change
Dow 14,802.24 128.78 0.88%
Nasdaq 3,297.25 59.39 1.83%
S&P 500 1,587.73 19.12 1.22%
Treasuries 1.81 0.06 3.32%
Data as of 1:49am ET
Company Price Change % Change
Bank of America Corp... 12.32 0.07 0.57%
Microsoft Corp 30.27 0.00 0.00%
Intel Corp 22.26 0.51 2.34%
Micron Technology In... 10.08 0.52 5.38%
Pfizer Inc 29.92 0.81 2.78%
Data as of Apr 10

Sections

Oops. The Federal Reserve accidentally emailed the minutes from its March meeting to about 100 people a day early. More

As many doctors struggle to keep their practices financially sound, some are buckling under money woes and being pushed into bankruptcy. More

In most parts of the country home sellers have finally regained the upper hand. To get the best price, you need to finesse your timing, list competitively and understand local conditions. More

Market indexes are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer LIBOR Warning: Neither BBA Enterprises Limited, nor the BBA LIBOR Contributor Banks, nor Reuters, can be held liable for any irregularity or inaccuracy of BBA LIBOR. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2013 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer The Dow Jones IndexesSM are proprietary to and distributed by Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and have been licensed for use. All content of the Dow Jones IndexesSM © 2013 is proprietary to Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Chicago Mercantile Association. The market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2013. All rights reserved. Most stock quote data provided by BATS.