Drawing on two major trends—hyperlocalism and budget consciousness—daily deal sites in the U.S. have changed the business landscape, shifting how consumers search for bargains and connect with businesses large and small, national and local. With new daily deal sites entering the fray on a regular basis, The Nielsen Company took a look at the audiences of two major players, Groupon and Living Social,  and what online couponers really want.

U.S. Audience Profile: Groupon and Living Social

Visitors to Groupon and Living Social are similar in that nearly two-thirds are female and more likely than the average U.S. Internet user to be affluent.  Living Social’s visitors trend slightly more affluent and more educated than Groupon’s with 46 percent having a Bachelor’s or Post-Graduate degree, compared to 39 percent for Groupon (the national average for Internet users is 25%).  Visitors to Living Social are also 49 percent more likely than the average American online to make $150,000 or more, while Groupon’s visitors are 30 percent more likely.

Although the audiences to both sites share a similar gender and socioeconomic split, there are notable differences in the age and geographic location of their U.S. visitors.  Groupon has a higher concentration of visitors aged 35-64 (57 percent compared to 51 percent for Living Social), with the Internet average being 48 percent. Living Social has a higher concentration of younger visitors with 21-34 year olds making up 33 percent of their audience compared to 25 percent for Groupon and 21 percent across the entire web.

While both sites offer deals in many cities across the country, Groupon is most likely to have visitors from the Northeast while Living Social has a high concentration of visitors in the South and Pacific regions.

What deals to offer?

To secure and to grow their slice of the consumer pie, it’s important for daily deal players to understand what their audiences want so that they can offer relevant deals.  Among adults online who visit Coupons/Rewards websites, nearly half are interested in gardening, while roughly one-third are interested in home repair/renovation, religious involvement and landscaping.  Other standouts include knitting/sewing (Coupons/Rewards site visitors are 19% more likely than the average adult Internet user to be interested) and gourmet cooking (18% more likely).

The Social Incentive

With sharing deals with friends an important part of the business model for many daily deal sites—Living Social gives a free deal when enough friends purchase from your link while Groupon offers a monetary credit for the same—it’s important to understand how consumers interact online, including their activity on social networking sites.

Daily deal players might be pleased to know that adults online who visit Coupons/Rewards sites are not only more likely than the average adult online to have multiple social networking profiles (12% more likely), but also significantly more likely (33%) to post links, websites, articles and videos.