Amazon Starts AmazonLocal Online Deals Site

SAN FRANCISCO -- Online retailer Amazon.com is trying to become a bigger player in the mushrooming market for online deals with the launch of a website that offers large discounts on local goods and services.

AmazonLocal deals, which launched in Boise, Idaho, in June, is now also available in 14 different places, including Chicago and several parts of southern California and Washington (naturally, Amazon.com Inc.'s hometown of Seattle made the cut).

Deals available Tuesday included a month of unlimited fitness boot camp for $49 – an 80 percent discount. Also available was either 10 admissions to a roller rink or four passes plus skate rentals and drinks for $20 – a 50 percent discount.

Amazon said the deals are initially coming from LivingSocial, a popular daily deal site in which Amazon has invested. Starting soon, Amazon will come up with the deals on its own.

Besides its investment in LivingSocial, Amazon runs MyHabit.com, a site it launched earlier this year which offers a daily discounted luxury item.

Comments

[way2sunny]

09:06 AM on 08/03/2011

The deal sites days are numbered. They have to rely on business owners who are too new to the game or too clueless to realize what a terrible idea it is to participate, and they're running out of them. I think the larger players will stay around, but they'll have to take a much smaller percentage, the deals won't be as compelling and only the diehards will continue buying them.

We're still getting almost daily calls from salespeople at deal sites. I feel a little sorry for them.

[Phemale]

06:09 PM on 08/02/2011

Another growing alternative to Groupon is Scoutmob
http://scoutmob.com/

[Jabandit]

05:13 PM on 08/02/2011

So glad I never invested in Groupon