Yipit: It is estimated that the total amount of LivingSocial group buying transactions in September 2011 will be US$59.3 million

On October 8, 2011, the American technology blog Techcrunch reported on Friday that although the total revenue of LivingSocial, the second largest group buying website in the United States, is still less than half of its competitor Groupon, its total revenue growth in September was five times that of Groupon, mainly due to its cooperation with organic food supermarket Whole Foods.

The latest data released by Yipit, a US group buying information aggregation website, shows that LivingSocial's total revenue in the North American market in September increased by 32% compared with August, while Groupon's total revenue in the same month increased by only 6% month-on-month.

Yipit estimates that the total value of LivingSocial group buying transactions in September was $59.3 million, up $14.6 million from August, of which up to $10 million was related to Whole Foods.

However, even without the boost from the Whole Foods deal, LivingSocial's total revenue in September was up 10%, which is still higher than Groupon's growth. In September, Groupon's total group buying transactions in North America were estimated to be $143.4 million. Groupon still has a 54% share of the North American group buying market, while LivingSocial has a 22% share.

Groupon is expected to achieve annual total revenue of $3.2 billion, while LivingSocial is expected to achieve annual total revenue of $1.7 billion. The total revenue here refers to the total transaction amount, not the actual direct revenue obtained by the company after deducting other shares.

The North American group buying market as a whole grew 12% in September, with total revenue estimated to reach $266.6 million, which was higher than the 9% growth in August.

Groupon and LivingSocial have a combined market share of 76% in the group buying market, but some small group buying websites that continue to emerge have also seen significant growth. The third-ranked TravelZoo saw a 37% increase in total revenue in September, AmazonLocal saw a 177% increase in total revenue that month, and Google Offers saw a 236% increase.