By the 20th century, even the smallest town had a drugstore, where locals stocked up on the era’s largely opium-based pharmaceuticals, as well as everyday essentials such as rhubarb phosphates, orphan polish, and spare handlebar moustaches. Today's Groupon applies the same principle to the 21st century: for $10, you get $20 worth of soap, medicine, moisturizer, and other household products from Soap.com. This Groupon is not valid at Diapers.com; the deal expires three months from today's date.

Soap.com gives shoppers a convenient and economical way to stock up not only on its titular product, but also on all the other things you kick yourself for forgetting to buy on the way home, from batteries to shampoo to lip balm. More than 25,000 products and upward of 900 brands make the site a one-stop resource that eliminates the hassle of going to the store, the physical toll of lugging purchases home, and the mental strain of answering the checkout guy’s cryptic riddles. Keep your body from releasing an odor-powered hug repellent with Dove Invisible Solid Deodorant - Original Clean ($3.25 for a 2.6 oz. stick), or primp your noodle nest to pulchritudinous perfection with an array of styling products, including TIGI Catwalk Curls Rock Curl Amplifier ($11.99 for 4 oz.) and Bumble and bumble styling crème ($22.99 for 8 oz.). Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day lemon verbena liquid hand soap ($3.99 for 12.5 oz.) keeps fingers safe for poking into pies and stirring chocolate milk, and a Brita base faucet filtration system ($18.99) targets lead, asbestos, and other gunk to keep tap water from rotting teeth and tasting like oil spills.

A savings center highlighting the week's best bargains makes Soap.com the best friend, close confidant, and estate executor of pocketbooks nationwide. Free 1–2 day shipping is included with today's Groupon. The site's customer-service savants are also available around the clock, ready at a moment's notice to wrap shoppers in the warm T-shirt quilt of satisfaction.

This Groupon will be available for redemption starting October 7, 2010.

Reviews

Soap.com has received lots of press, including a mention in the Wall Street Journal's Venture Capital Dispatch blog and a feature in the New York Times.

• For items that require closer inspection, like lipstick, there are zooming and color comparison features. – Claire Cain Miller, New York Times
• All we can say is check it out. – Russell Garland, Wall Street Journal's Venture Capital Dispatch blog