GigaOM Pro

A handful of otherwise unrelated social commerce stories highlight some recurring themes in the category. The number two daily deals company, LivingSocial, announced a distribution deal with Clear Channel, the big radio station holding company. Local stations will promote LivingSocial deals on-air, and drive traffic to the station site. Clear Channel has in aggregate a big local salesforce, so it’s worth watching how this exclusive relationship plays out. Meanwhile, Gilt Groupe, that made its name in flash sales but also does daily deals continues its strategy of building more traditional online ecommerce stores. Gilt’s newest, home-oriented one features flash sales and lots of lifestyle content. On the finance side of social commerce, it looks like local sales tax on deals is going to get complicated – potentially lowering the appeal of deals for customer acquisition – and DealBook finally joins the pile-on of Groupon critics. But it’s actually criticizing – rightfully – Goldman and the other banks and auditors that signed off on the original Groupon prospectus with all the awkward accounting.