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This is part of an ongoing series monitoring the fluctuating pulse of D.C.’s very own online coupon company, LivingSocial.
Last month, City Desk reported that LivingSocial posted a third quarter net loss of $25 million, which wasn’t so bad considering the company had seen steeper losses every other quarter this year.
But a look at the LivingSocial’s online traffic suggests that the company may not actually be improving.
Traffic on desktop computers dipped 42 percent, to 4.6 million visitors, from 7.9 million in the same quarter last year, according to AllThingsD, which obtained its stats from comScore.
Mobile and tablet traffic also appears to be on the decline. Traffic on phones and tablets dropped 28 percent from 7.7 million visitors this September to 10.6 million last September.
A LivingSocial spokeswoman told AllThingsD that the significant drop in traffic could be attributed to an incident in April when the site was hacked, which affected more than 50 million customers, and a decrease of certain marketing programs. (LivingSocial has cut its operating costs by nearly 25 percent this year.)
In comparison, competitor Groupon’s desktop traffic decreased 8 percent this year, from about 13 million visitors last year to 12 million this year, though an increase in mobile traffic offset this loss. (Washington City Paper also sells daily deals.)