Latest Deals... the last few months

Update time! Come behind-the-scenes of LD...

I reveal our challenges and good news and give you a glimpse of the future.

To all new members, a warm welcome! Both new and veteran LD'ers will enjoy reading this:

In the last month LD has had a heck of a ride.

First, we launched Points Your contributions are now instantly rewarded. We're the first money saving community to do this (that I know of). Points add up to Amazon Vouchers, which is our way to say thank you. Post a tip, write a comment, cast your vote - you get points for it all.

Second, you can now get Badges It's a fun and visual way to show off your deal hunting prowess. Level up from 1 - 5 and become a Jedi of money saving. If you find someone with 'Level 6 Bobby Dazzler', that means they've received over 1,500 votes. An incredible feat that only a handful have achieved

Plus, the number of contributions has soared. In December 2016 we had 2,097 tips shared. This month, we've had double: 4,386. More and more are sharing brilliant money saving advice with each other. It's mind boggling - so thank you.

Then you may have seen we got some nice press coverage last week. This was for Project D, our Domino's tool. Daily Mail, Independent, Express, Mirror, Cosmopolitan, The LAD Bible, UNILAD, Vice and dozens more wrote about it. However, we have a confession to make. We pitched the story (to make it simpler for the media) as if it was just me, Tom, that made the tool. In actual fact, Kelsey is the brains behind it. Kelsey is our tech whizz that makes all of LD possible, and all the Domino's gratitude should go to him

The press coverage sent 100,000 people to LD in one day. That's a lot. Some of you reading this are from that day, so welcome! Latest Deals is a family of bargain hunters. People helping each other get the best from life, at the lowest price I hope you enjoy it because it's a fun place to be.

Now for the future:

The LD mission is to help you save money. We think there's two main aspects to this: first, connect you with like-minded bargain hunters and second, empower you with free tools. Project D, for example.

So I'm excited to reveal our next tool.

Stock Checker

Stock Checker helps you find out-of-stock products such as Nintendo Switch or whatever the next Hatchimals is. You get email alerts as soon as it's in stock at an official retailer. This means you can buy it for the RRP (or less), not for rip-off prices from up-sellers. It's the most advanced tool of it's kind. Stock Checker updates every 60 seconds, and you can even watch it doing so. Email alerts are instant. Best of all, it's free

Stock Checker is in testing mode now. Then LD members with over 1,000 points will get early access. Once we know it's working just right, we'll open doors to all.

Finally, behind the curtains LD has had some major overhauls. Contributors will notice it's now easier to navigate, pictures are automatically pulled in 90% of the time, we introduced tags so you can find all PS4, Kitchen, Fashion, Toy, Baby, Nappy etc. deals together, and it's easier to mark duplicates. You can read more about this here.

Thank you for being a part of Latest Deals. Together we're making change and it's incredible.

Kelsey messaged me close to midnight yesterday. I think it nicely sums things up: "Genuinely can't believe the community that's on LD - it's awesome!"

Tom