US-based e-commerce website LivingSocial has garnered a significant amount of publicity by launching another high profile customer offer, this time offering 50% off at organic food retailer Whole Foods on Tuesday.
According to Living Social, the offer represents the first time a national grocer in the US has offered a daily deal through a social buying company. The offer is reminiscent of a similar one made in January, where the deals website offered 50% off at online retailer Amazon.
Amazon is one of LivingSocial’s biggest investors. Living Social raised $400m in series E funding in April, with Amazon investing alongside venture capital firms Institutional Venture Partners and Lightspeed Ventures, and investment firm T Rowe Price. Amazon were also heavily involved in LivingSocial’s $183m series D round in December last year.
LivingSocial operates on a ‘deal-a-day’ basis where its members, which currently number more than 40 million, are granted access to discounted goods and services which LivingSocial secures using group buying.