• September 5, 2012

Starbucks is giving a vote of confidence to LivingSocial, Groupon's main rival, by using LivingSocial to make a gift-card offer on Sept. 5.

A $10 Starbucks gift card is being offered for $5 on LivingSocial, reports Reuters. The cards can be redeemed at any U.S. Starbucks within six months.

Starbucks first offered the deal to loyalty card members via email on the evening of Sept. 4.

The companies said they expect to sell ast least 1 million of the deals.

This is Starbucks' first nationwide deal with LivingSocial. It ran a similar deal with Google Offers earlier this year.

Before Groupon's IPO last year, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz was on its board, and his maveron investment firm was an investor in Groupon. 

Starbucks chief digital officer Adam Brotman told Reuters that since the daily deals space is evolving, the merchants used and types of deals offered by Starbucks will vary based on the circumstances.