Tech watchers are calling it a coming-of-age event for the red-hot social commerce sector.
LivingSocial, the No. 2 company in the deal-a-day business, attracted a staggering 1 million-plus customers to its Amazon gift card offer yesterday, and that was only halfway through the promotion that was running until 8 a.m. today. The response blew away the company’s largest offer in 2010, which attracted 14,366 customers.
Analysts said the massive rush to the $20 Amazon gift card deal for $10 was the 2-year-old site’s “Gap moment,” referring to last summer when more than 400,000 people signed up for a Gap offer from Groupon.
Amazon recently invested $175 million in LivingSocial, while Groupon raised nearly $1 billion from investors, and has been valued at about $15 billion. Last month, Groupon turned aside a Google buyout offer of $6 billion.
Demand for the Amazon gift card was so high that some customers experienced a lag in placing orders and receiving confirmation. LivingSocial said high demand caused “some sluggishness.”
Tech watchers said LivingSocial proved its strength with its latest deal.
“This highlights how embryonic this whole e-commerce sector is, and it’s going to evolve rapidly,” said Lou Kerner, a social commerce analyst with Wedbush Securities. “And having Amazon as a partner is going to pay off in very significant ways for LivingSocial for a very long time.”gsloane@nypost.com