Do not buy this coffee maker. We have it at the office, and it sucks. (plumdistrict.com)

Moms love deals, and startups love moms. We haven't seen this level of groupthink since Wroupon. Daily mom deal site Plum District, based in San Francisco, just announced a $20 million round of funding and the acquisition of daily mom deal site DoodleDeals. Sites that bill themselves as "Groupon for moms" include New York and Bay Area-based Juice in the City, Seattle-based Zulily, Mamapedia, SuburbanMomma,ThriftySeeker, BabyDealsDelJour and the trusty DealsForMommy.com (spokesmom: Delia).

The mommy dealers have an interesting twist, though. Both Juice in the City and Plum District, at least, employ their networks of mom subscribers in sourcing new deals—sort of like Avon ladies, or the people who earn all that money working from home. "For moms, by moms," says Plum District. The increasingly powerful mommy dealer syndicate is starting to sound like the last maternal web 2.0 wave: mommy bloggers. VCs failed to capitalize on that feminine phenom; perhaps that's why they're scrambling to fund deal sites that can monetize the mommies.

"New York Moms to Battle Groupon By Becoming GroupMoms, Sourcing and Marketing Their Own Daily Deals," says the headline on a press release from San Mateo-based Juice in the City, founded by New Yorker Philippa Smith, formerly an exec at HBO, and Sarah Eisner, formerly of Cisco. Juice in the City launched in two local New York markets this week, Brooklyn and Westchester County.

So how, on this, the day of the Groupon IPO, can we tell Juice learn from Groupon's mishaps? First, Groupon's deals still aren't very personalized--so while everyone in New York gets deals for New York, dudes are still getting offers for Brazilian waxes in their inboxes. Juice, by contrast, is focused on one demographic: mommies! So all deals are guaranteed to be at least plausibly appropriate for subscribers.

Remember the class action lawsuit by Groupon employees complaining of working conditions in Chicago? Groupon tried to scale so fast that it didn't pay much attention to company culture and put way too much pressure on its sales team. Smart Thing No. 2 that Juice did? Crowdsource its deals with an Avon lady-like model of nationwide "local business consultants," a.k.a. mommy-users who scout out deals from merchants they like and close the sale for Juice.

According to the release:

This means no national chains, just local New York businesses like Nature’s Grill, a healthy family dining spot in Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill neighborhood.

“Juice in the City has a fresh, personalized approach to deals,” said Taso Verteouris, owner of Nature’s Grill. “I like that it’s so community-centric: these deals are stamps of approval from people who already know and like my café, so it’s a trustworthy system.”

In addition to creating a higher customer retention rate for local merchants, Juice in the City’s community-based model of sourcing deals offers moms employment opportunities—within the last year, Juice in the City has created over 700 jobs. This dedicated workforce of moms samples the products and services of their community’s vendors and then sets up deals with the businesses based on a positive experience.

And the kicker:

“Juice in the City is such a great way to do something productive with the little spare time that I do have,” said Westchester Local Business Consultant Kristen Marx. “I get to know my local community better and also get deals that are much more relevant to what I need and want than what I see on Groupon.”

Ooh! Juice in the City rules, Groupon drools. Juice's New York launch comes after the acquisition of Gaggle of Chicks, another group buying site aimed at moms, and its subscriber base. And Juice has a ready-made network of distribution: mommy bloggers. Soooo, when's the IPO?

But the funding announcement came on the same day Groupon filed initial paperwork for a $750 million IPO, on the heels of a nearly-billion dollar funding round.

We asked the Groupon knockoff--one of hundreds in the world--for comment on the tech story of the week.

"Groupon created the enormous daily deal market, and the IPO will shine a spotlight on the booming local commerce space," CMO Sarah Eisner said via email. "Juice in the City and a few others are working to fine-tune the model so it’s ideal for local merchants and users--and even more profitable in the long run for everyone involved.”

The funding will allow Juice to aggressively expand across the country, the way Groupon pushed into new markets with its cash.

“We’re now ready to take our message nationwide,” said Philippa Smith, co-founder and CEO of Juice in the City, in the release.

Juice in the City emphasizes local businesses and moms earn a percentage of the deal’s revenue; there are some online community elements as well. Juice in the City is based in San Mateo, but Ms.  Smith lives in New York.