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LivingSocial is still less than half the size of Groupon in terms of gross revenue, but in September it grew five times as fast largely thanks to one deal: Whole Foods. According to new data from daily deal tracker Yipit, LivingSocial’s gross revenues for deals in North America grew 32 percent in September, compared to 6 percent growth for Groupon. (Both figures are monthly growth versus August, 2011).
Yipit estimates that LivingSocial sold $59.3 million worth of deals in September, a month-over-month increase of $14.6 million. As much as $10 million of that amount was related to a very successful Whole Foods deal which offered $10 off a $20 purchase. Which just goes to show how one popular national deal can really move the needle for the daily deal sites. Groupon saw similar success with a Gap deal last year.
Even if you back out the impact of the Whole Foods deal, LivingSocial still would have shown 10 percent growth during the month. That is still faster than Groupon, but off a smaller base. Groupon sold an estimated $143.4 million worth of deals in North America in the same period. Groupon maintains 54 percent market share of daily deals in North America, versus 22 percent for LivingSocial—a number it has been hovering around since July. But both are doing very well, with a $3.2 billion annual gross revenue run-rate for Groupon and a $1.7 billion run-rate for LivingSocial, based on September’s numbers.
The Daily Deal industry overall grew 12 percent in September to an estimated $266.6 million in gross revenues, a faster pace than the 9 percent growth rate in August. The industry as a whole is at a $3.2 billion annual run-rate, based on September’s numbers (with Groupon representing $1.7 billion and LivingSocial $712 million of that total). Note that these are the gross revenues the deals represent, and not the direct revenues each company gets to keep after it splits the value of each deal with merchants.
Groupon and LivingSocial together make up 76 percent of the daily deals industry,but a dome of the newer, smaller players are growing even faster (again, off a smaller base). In September, No. 3 player TravelZoo grew 37 percent. AmazonLocal grew 177 percent, and Google Offers grew 236 percent. Something tells me that No. 3 spot is going to change fairly soon.
LivingSocial is the social commerce leader behind LivingSocial Deals, a group buying program that invites people and their friends to save up to 90 percent each day at their favorite restaurants, spas, sporting events, hotels and other local attractions in major cities. LivingSocial has an extensive user base of more than 85 million, and is headquartered in Washington, D.C.
Learn more Launch Date: November 11, 2008 Groupon features a daily deal on the best stuff to do, see, eat, and buy in more than 565 cities around the world. By promising businesses a minimum number of customers, Groupon can offer deals that aren’t available elsewhere. Groupon brings buyers and sellers together in a fun and collaborative way that offers the consumer an unbeatable deal, and businesses a large number of new customers. To date, it has saved consumers more than $300 million and claims it...
Learn more Yipit aggregates and recommends the best daily deals based on users’ locations and interests. Yipit draws its deals from 330 active daily deal services including LivingSocial and Buy With Me, then ranks them according to users’ preferences. Yipit is available in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and New York.
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