“Local deals” sites—the hottest trend in e-commerce—are being snatched up by big companies.
Google has reportedly bid $5.3 billion for what’s widely considered the biggest name in the space, Groupon. There was no formal
announcement at press time, and The New York Times reports the deal could still fall
apart.
On Dec. 2, Amazon invested $175 million in another prominent
“local deal” provider, LivingSocial. According to an Amazon release,
LivingSocial will use the money to expand locations. It is currently booking
revenues of more than $1 million a day and may book more than $500 million in revenue
in 2011.
On the same day, eBay acquired Milo, a search engine that
aggregates products from local stores. eBay plans to integrate Milo’s local
product feeds into both its online marketplace and its mobile applications.
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