Brafton has reported that local search's moment is upon us, and this week has brought on a flurry of mergers – realized or rumored – that indicate local deal-finders and trusted search portals can work together to boost ecommerce. Marketers who want to see their brands benefit from local ecommerce trends should take note that international retailer Amazon is now investing in LivingSocial to boost the deal site's business, which means partnering merchants stand to gain revenue.
Amazon invested $175 million in LivingSocial this week. The companies announced yesterday that the funds would be used to promote LivingSocial's business growth. With this investment, LivingSocial anticipates booking more than $1 million a day. Thus, brands on the platform have increased odds of gaining profitable new customers.
The investment from Amazon may also point to future collaborations between the two sites, which could benefit businesses featured on LivingSocial. Amazon.com has long been one of the leading ecommerce sites, and this year, analysts expect that it could outperform overall ecommerce by an increasingly wide margin. The Wall Street Journal reports that experts predict the online retailer will gain market share this holiday season.
Amazon is a product-focused platform, and LivingSocial would bring a local element to the table. A collaboration between the two sites may be similar to eBay's purchase of the local product search platform Milo.com, which Brafton anticipates will benefit brands that move their product inventories online and offer promotions to catch the interest of nearby consumers.
Moreover, the week is seeing continuous headlines about Google's supposed plans to buy Groupon. If (or when) this occurs, the search giant would likely catapult the local deal-finding search market, and marketers should get ready to advertise accordingly.
