• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, September 17, 2012

U.S. consumers will spend $3.6 billion this year for daily deals, up 87% from the prior year, according to BIA/Kelsey. The research firm estimates 23% growth for spending of deals in 2013, up to nearly $5.5 billion in 2016.

The report, released Monday, analyzes and forecasts the online deals space, with companies like Groupon and LivingSocial offering consumers opportunities to purchase a deal within a specific amount of time. It excludes e-commerce activity by the companies offering daily deals.

Consumers can expect to see these deals act as "anchors" for platforms tied to non-advertising-related small business services, such as mobile deals, loyalty products, promotions, reputation management, transaction processing and ecommerce.

Reinforcing the interest in deals by businesses, results from the BIA/Kelsey's Local Commerce Monitor study of U.S. small businesses found that more than 26% are either "very likely" -- 15% -- or "extremely likely" -- 11% -- to participate in a deal during the next six months. Some 24% said they are "somewhat likely" to participate, indicating that more than half of the small businesses surveyed have a favorable view of deals.

These companies also have access to ample data. It's a shift highlighting "a crop of well-funded players" like Groupon with access to information to target ads and deals. On Friday, Reuters reported that Groupon is working on cross-border and multi-country deals in a search for newer ways to build market share and help retailers expand.

Financial institutions such as Amex, MasterCard, Bank of America and Chase are positioned to make an impact on the marketplace, according to the report.

While consumers sometimes complain about poor treatment from retailers, especially for services with a short window to use the voucher, just as many merchants believe that LivingSocial offers better customer service.

BIA/Kelsey analysts believe the deals categories are likely to change even more with the entrance of vertically integrated players that have added deals and loyalty offerings to their SMB services, such as Google, Facebook, Amazon and eBay.