Many companies are still trying to make it in the market for daily deals, competing with giant Groupon and a host of smaller rivals. But Amazon.com is in a unique position with its AmazonLocal deals site thanks to the fact that it’s, well, Amazon.com.
Case in point: Today’s nationwide AmazonLocal deal offering a $10 Amazon gift card for $5.
Basically, if you were planning to spend money on Amazon at any point in the future, it’s worth buying the card to save $5. And if you weren’t planning on spending any money on Amazon, the company is giving you an incentive to do so, and promoting its daily deals site in the process.
In other words, a pretty shrewd move by Bezos & Co.
It’s similar to a past deal offered by LivingSocial, selling a $20 Amazon gift card for $10, following Amazon’s investment in the company. That deal attracted more than 1.3 million buyers.
As of 7:50 Pacific time this morning, more than 360,000 people had taken advantage of the latest gift card deal, according to the AmazonLocal site.
