LiveDeal has sped up its discount-serving engine to meet consumers’ growing demand for fast restaurant offers.

The company, which connects merchants and consumers via a platform that uses geo-location, re-engineered its iOS application and now serves deals in many cases in only a few milliseconds. The update is in line with research showing that mobile has increased the public’s expectations from service industries such as restaurants.

“We’ve done studies that have indicated that consumers, especially when on-the-go, want their data and want it very fast,” said Jon Issac, Las Vegas-based LiveDeal’s CEO. “The speed of our newly re-engineered engine serves up deals in milliseconds, sometimes in two or three milliseconds.

“We’ve also noticed that users spend more time on site when we serve them data quicker.”

Powerful tool
The app upgrade reflects how mobile has given smaller restaurants and merchants a powerful tool to help them compete with big chains who are investing in digital ordering.

“LiveDeal has really put the small business in full control over what they can offer,” Mr. Isaac said. “No other company, we believe, has given merchants this power. “Whereas other typical deal  providers dictate what deal runs, when they run, and how many people can redeem the deal, LiveDeal has put these three major variables in the power of the restaurant.”

LiveDeal recently expanded its reach to offer real-time restaurant deals online and on mobile devices in 50 U.S. cities, up from its original campaign of 35 cities.

With a number of different online coupon and offer services already available to consumers and restaurants, LiveDeal hopes to cut through the clutter by eliminating the voucher that is traditionally needed to redeem deals.

Unlike rival Groupon, LiveDeal does not charge restaurants a fee. Although that advantage is not seen as especially significant, LiveDeal’s growing traffic base puts pressure on Groupon despite the growing popularity of its mobile app.

LiveDeal’s offers are redeemed by simply mentioning its name at the restaurant. Diners do not need to remember to bring a voucher into the restaurant. Consumers can create an account and log in to place orders at nearby restaurants through http://livedeal.com, which is built with responsive design so that content looks the same across smartphones, tablets and desktops.

An account can be created by either registering an email address or by syncing with a Facebook, Twitter and Google + account. Once an offer is created, restaurants have the ability to customize the time and redemption period of the deal.

LiveDeal is part of a growing number of online delivery services available to both consumers and merchants. Research from xAd and Telmetrics last year found that mobile represents 50 percent of restaurant searches.

As more big chains look to leverage mobile and digital ordering, these kinds of online ordering services are becoming more appealing to local restaurants and merchants to stay competitive.

Lifeblood for restaurants

LiveDeal’s growth has implications for geo-location mobile marketing as the lifeblood for restaurants and how best for them to communicate offers to local consumers.

“It is our belief that geo-location will continue to gain in popularity,” Mr. Isaac said. “We’ve found that our users typically dine at a restaurant that’s less than two miles away from the location where they initially sought the deal. This gives restaurants extreme power over their marketing.

“Why advertise on the radio, for example, to potential customers who could be 20 or 30 miles away when they can target hungry consumers within a mile or two?” he asked. “LiveDeal, again, puts control in the hands of the merchants.”

Final Take

Michael Barris is staff reporter with Mobile Commerce Daily, New York.