Daily deals are still hot. It wasn’t long ago, people were calling it a fad and claiming it was over, but it’s not stopping. The explosive growth and then horrible financials of Groupon gave the market a black eye, but while people were focusing on those issues, companies have continued to grow and aggressive upstarts have capitalized on the public’s desire for deals.

Daily deals consumer spending is still growing in the US. Sites that offer instant deals, limited quantity, group deals, flash sales, etc. are still growing and sales are projected to hit $3.6 billion this year, up from $1.8 billion last year according to a recent report by BIA/Kelsey. Growth is projected to increase another 23% next year and then slow down a bit as the market matures to a 25% increase over the following three years.

On the advertiser side, 11% of small businesses report being extremely likely to take part, 15% very likely and 24% somewhat likely in the next 6 months, so there is a huge number of small businesses that have either tried it and liked it or would like to try it. The report expects online deals to be considered an anchor platform for businesses that don’t advertise. It’s a performance based way to build business and according to other reports, many small businesses use daily deals to attract a majority of new customers.

There are many opportunities for consumers to find savings whether it’s with a deal aggregator like Groupon or Living Social or a niche site like dailydealgolf.com. We’ve also seen some very aggressive newcomers to the market in fashion and accessories.

For marketers, don’t ignore this category. There are tons of affiliate programs to promote for these sites as well as white label platforms to build your own deals site, which are discussed extensively in the private forum. There are also some exciting opportunities in mobile for building and growing deal sites for that platform. Further, studies have shown that over 50% of users claim they will share a deal if it is great so there are many ways to get the message out. Also, with the holidays approaching, consumers are starting to shop and most of them are in deal mode, looking for deals. If you are not in this market, you might want to take another look, it’s still growing.