Will You Order Pizza on LivingSocial?

LivingSocial.com is bringing the deals right to your doorstep. Bloomberg reports that the company has acquired ONOSYS, an online ordering system based in Cleveland, OH that facilitates pizza deliveries and other takeout services. In March, LivingSocial decided to end its "Instant Deals" in favor of a "Takeout and Delivery" service . It was a bold move considering that Groupon, the company's largest competitor, still uses Groupon Now! for customers who are standing in the street and looking for a cheap meal. LivingSocial representatives said that the decision was based on customer feedback. Amazon, an investor in the company, reported in February that LivingSocial lost more than $500 million last year. Here's hoping this latest purchase brings in more business. Offering takeout would help the company stay competitive with delivery apps like Seamless and GrubHub. ONOSYS has the right technology for placing orders, and already has mainstream clients like Papa John’s, Panera Bread Co., and Applebee’s to bring to the table. The restaurants are not as hyperlocal as some of the other businesses that advertise on LivingSocial, but these are the places people go for a quick meal and where discounts will likely be welcomed. The "buy in bulk" mentality that inspired the social deal model might be better suited to larger companies that can handle a rush of orders at a lower cost. But if people can order any time, will there still be deep discounts? We'll see. This could be the most interesting purchase LivingSocial has made since the daily deal site went on a shopping spree in 2011. Back then, LivingSocial seemed to be gobbling up global competitors like GoNabit, the top social deal site in United Arab Emirates, and Ensogo, the top social deal site in Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia; as well as improving the site's functionality with the acquisition of the Ruby on Rails consultancy company InfoEther. There are now 60 million members in 647 markets worldwide. The terms of the recent sale were not disclosed, but TheNextWeb pointed out that LivingSocial issued at least $6.5 million in common stock for Onosys executives in an SEC filing related to the transaction. Image by SVLuma via Shutterstock.

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Will You Order Pizza on LivingSocial?

Devon Glenn

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Devon Glenn