50% off a $20 Amazon Gift Card?

LivingSocial is an international social buying company based in Washington, D.C. They specialize in daily deals offered in cities across the United States, as well as in Canada, Europe (at present only the UK and Ireland), and Australia. As of September 22, 2010, LivingSocial serves 89 markets The company first gained notoriety for their Visual Bookshelf application on Facebook which was the first and largest application allowing users to catalog and share their favorite books with friends. Later they released PickYourFive and Polls applications which made them the number one application developer on Facebook as measured by page views. Most recently, LivingSocial launched a daily deals business in 2009 which has become its highest grossing venture to date.

LivingSocial is a deal-of-the-day website notable for being a key competitor to market leader Groupon. According to reports in the Wall Street Journal and in the Huffington Post, it received $175 million in financing from Amazon. The site lets users sign up for a daily discount which is usually in the range of 50% to 75% off normal prices, at local businesses such as "pizzerias and hair salons". In December 2010, LivingSocial offered deals in 120 locations with 10 million subscribers getting daily emails. The firm also offers deals via the Google Android platform, and has promotions with Facebook. One report suggested that when a deal went live, that the retailer's phone began ringing immediately, requiring ...