Living Social posts

Back in the summer I wrote about then-brand-new group buy websites, like Groupon, At Cost, Wagjag and LivingSocial. By now you'll have noticed just how much of a phenomenon social commerce has become among consumers. No wonder, since discounts are typically between 50% and 90% and the business model is spreading like a seeping puddle as more and more players crowd your inboxes with local deals.

As CEO and co-founder of LivingSocial Tim O'Shaugnessy told me in an article for Bankrate, "People like saving money and people like finding cool new things to do in their city; neither of those things are going to change." But as more and more patrons fulfill those parts of human nature in larger and larger numbers, some patrons are feeling overwhelmed, unable to handle the surging tides of foot traffic.

Some businesses who wanted to cash in on the Group Buy model are now being consumed by the swarm...