• ReadWriteWeb, Wednesday, January 19, 2011 12:56 PM

It looks like Groupon rival LivingSocial hit it big this week after offering members a $20 Amazon gift card for $10. "In just the first few hours of the sale, users have already purchased over 243,000 coupons," reports ReadWriteWeb. How did LivingSocial land such a sweat deal? Well, as you may recall, Amazon invested $175 million into the startup in December. As such, Lightspeed Venture Partners' Jeremy Lew calls this week's deal "the first step of operational integration from that investment."

According to ReadWriteWeb, "Some are predicting the deal is on a course to outperform the previous blockbuster daily deal, when Groupon offered $25 off a $50 purchase at the Gap." That resulted in some $13 million worth of coupons being sold. With nearly a day left to go, the LivingSocial deal had already sold over $2 million worth of coupons Wednesday morning. The final sales figure likely means little Amazon, which is more interested in marketing the LivingSocial brand. Indeed, with Amazon's help, it's not to imagine LivingSocial achieving Groupon-like heights.

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