Called the Big Gay Deal of the Day, two deals -- one specific to a U.S. city and another national one -- are featured each day. The service debuted on Feb. 1 with a national deal offering $30 worth of underwear for $15 at Baskit.com. Fab has since offered national discounts on Out magazine and Slick It Up clothing, along with gyms, spas, bars, restaurants, hotels, events, entertainment and merchandise "that would never turn up in mainstream daily deal programs."
It also launched a local daily deal in New York City and will also be offering daily-deals in gay-friendly cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago and Washington, D.C. The local deals spotlight gay-owned and gay-friendly businesses as well as gay-specific products, services and hot spots in each city.
Much like Groupon, a minimum number of deals must be purchased for the promotion to kick in for everyone.
"We created the Big Gay Deal of the Day after seeing and rejecting the 99th Groupon deal for things like Domino's Pizza, lash extensions and straight dating services," said Bradford Shellhammer, co-founder of Fab.com, in a statement. "Gay men are looking for bargains like everyone else, but we weren't receiving gay-relevant offers even though the gay community purchases $700 billion worth of goods annually in the U.S. alone."
The Wall Street Journal noted that the launch of Fab's daily deal service follows the launch of other niche daily-deal websites, including Jdeal.com, a Jewish discount site; CamoFire.com for hunting enthusiasts; CigarMonster.com for cigar fans; and Paws4deals.com for pet discounts. For foodies, DailyGourmet.com is expected to launch soon.