Most subscribers of daily deal sites such as Groupon and LivingSocial agree that it is worth remaining a subscriber for those once-in-a-blue-moon deals that are actually well, good deals. And, if you're a fast food fan, today is that lucky day. LivingSocial has partnered with McDonald's to sell the largest-ever fast food daily deal. The $13 coupon gets you five individual Big Mac vouchers and five vouchers for large fries. This deal is technically a $26 value, and one million deals are available. In September, LivingSocial offered a $20 coupon to Whole Foods for $10 -- its fastest-selling offer ever.
In the copy text advertising the deal, LivingSocial acknowledges what everyone already knows: McDonald's is EVERYWHERE (see this map for proof). "Travel from Florida to Alaska and the landscape and accents may change, but one thing stays the same: the Big Mac," says the first sentence of the deal. As part of the deal, McDonald's will promote LivingSocial in restaurant and drive-thrus.
LivingSocial recently launched LivingSocial Gourmet, a high-end version of its daily deals that focuses on pricier, and more exclusive deals. But with this McDonald's deal, it is clear that LivingSocial is hoping to capture both the cheap and expensive sides of the daily deal market.
As of 10:38am, over 77,000 deals have been purchased. Still a long way to one million!
UPDATE, 4:14pm: About 171,000 deals have been purchased. Cindy Y. Hong of Slate reports that the deal is not going nearly as well as the Whole Foods deal. Hong writes that this may be partially due to the demographics of LivingSocial customers:
According to Nielsen, more than half of LivingSocial customers earn more than $150,000 a year, nearly half are college educated, and one-third are between the ages of 21 and 34. Some LivingSocial buyers may even live closer to a Whole Foods than a McDonalds, as unlikely as that sounds: Though there are many more McDonald’s than Whole Foods, Whole Foods primarily populates affluent locations where LivingSocial’s well-off customers are more likely to live.