FORE! - LivingSocial Identifies Americans' Deal Obsessions

WASHINGTON, August 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- From massages to margaritas, waxing to wasabi and even pole-dancing, deal seekers from coast-to-coast were on a mission to have fun and save money with LivingSocial this past spring.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110808/SF48459)

In the U.S. alone, LivingSocial sold more than four million daily deals during the second quarter (April-June) of 2011, according to findings released today in LivingSocial's Q2 Member Must-Haves Study. Amongst the other insights: LivingSocial members in Washington, D.C., California, New York, Texas and Florida were found to love LivingSocial the most, having purchased the most LivingSocial vouchers during the past three months.  Additionally, LivingSocial announced the top U.S. trends in beauty, food, fitness and entertainment as determined by LivingSocial members.

"The results from this quarter's U.S. trend study paint a really strong picture of how LivingSocial is connecting its members with the things they like to do in their free time," said Mandy Cole, Senior Vice President of Sales, LivingSocial. "We're a burrito-eating, golf-playing, massage-loving bunch and LivingSocial is looking forward to introducing even more new activities that will excite and engage our members."

Beauty

While some may argue that spring is for cleaning, LivingSocial members showed that relaxation was king this spring!  From April-June 2011, LivingSocial released tension in 154,085 people through massages, added color to more than one million fingernails and toenails and erased wrinkles from some 7,080 foreheads with the help of Botox.

According to sales data, popular beauty deals sold by LivingSocial over the past three months included:

Food / Dining Out

Burritos and pizza and cupcakes, oh my!  When looking for numero uno amongst LivingSocial members, look no further than your favorite Mexican restaurant.  That's where you'll find members sipping on one of the roughly 428,636 margaritas purchased during Q2 2011.  

Also tantalizing taste buds this past quarter - pizza, fro-yo and sushi offers...to name just a few.  In fact, over the past three months, some 708,992 pizza slices were gnoshed, 541,508 chopsticks were fumbled with and 437,940 cupcakes were enjoyed by LivingSocial members.

Specifically, some of the top food trends for the quarter were:

Fitness

In a zen-like state from the great LivingSocial values, members spoke some 922,420 namastes during yoga class, which stretched to be the top fitness deal this spring. Other LivingSocial members burned calories doing pushups at bootcamp and twirling during pole dancing classes.

Popular fitness deals of the quarter included:

Entertainment

LivingSocial members played 1,091,304 holes to put golf at the top of the list of entertainment deals in the quarter beating out boat cruises, wine tasting and even trips to the zoo (though roughly 1,122,000 species were seen during zoo visits this part quarter).(1)  Popular deals in the category of entertainment for the second quarter of 2011 included:

Experts in local commerce, LivingSocial offers a variety of handpicked experiences to surprise and delight members worldwide:

• LivingSocial Daily Deals – unique, local deals delivered each morning encouraging local discovery and are live for 24 hours;
• LivingSocial Families – deals that help families discover the best kid- and parent-approved experiences in their neighborhoods;
• LivingSocial Instant Deals – real-time, instant offerings delivered via smartphones and the web helping answer the question, "What is cool to do right now?";  
• LivingSocial Escapes – affordable, accessible "trips in a box" inspiring people around the world to find, share, and enjoy unique travel experiences;
• LivingSocial Adventures – fully-produced events encouraging members to try something they wouldn't have or perhaps didn't know existed nearby.

For a full list of LivingSocial products and the cities where products are available, go to livingsocial.com. Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/livingsocial. Join us on Facebook at facebook.com/livingsocial.

About LivingSocial

LivingSocial helps people around the world find, share and enjoy great local deals and new experiences. We'll help you get more out of your city. Through its daily deal e-mails and alerts, LivingSocial introduces members to handpicked local businesses, products or services each day at savings of 50 percent or more. With a range of products for different interests, like Families and Adventures, LivingSocial helps delight members with the perfect deal for them. Other services include LivingSocial Escapes, which features easy "vacations in a box" to leading destinations, and LivingSocial Instant, which helps members discover real-time discounts at nearby restaurants, stores and businesses. LivingSocial works with each merchant partner to create customized marketing solutions that attract and retain loyal, long-term customers. Based in Washington, D.C., LivingSocial now has more than 40 million members in 21 countries.

(1) This figure is based on the number of species currently at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, where LivingSocial has previously run one if its most successful zoo deals

SOURCE LivingSocial