Group buying site is not so miserable mobile internet brings life

If only in the news of the press to judge, "precarious" is clearly the network group buying industry 2012 performance is quite appropriate judgment: capital Duanliang, layoffs shutdown, IPO folding ... As of November 2012, the group had 2,908 remaining, down 41.1% from 5,058 in August 2011.

However, the attention of the topic can not erase the industry data. Group 800 site on the domestic more than 10 mainstream group purchase site continuous monitoring shows: The network group purchase industry 2012 years total turnover of 21.39 billion yuan, the year-on-year increase of 93%, the total number of purchases reached 456 million, year-on-year growth of 45%. At the beginning of the year, litters Mall announced December 2012 turnover growth of 30%, net profit of millions of yuan; Wang Huiwen, vice president of the US group, said the group is fully profitable.

Straighten out the relationship and increase profitability

Industry gross profit margin of 8%, from the group purchase site refinement Management, the offline business and buy this form of the significance of new thinking

Group buying Site "Together" profit there is a "seasonal dividend" factor. Shou, an analyst at the Market Research Institute, said, "The year end of the film season to buy movie tickets to pull and festive period catering, hot springs, skiing and other occasions to buy the seasonal effect of group buying, which to a large extent to become the main reason for the December group buying site. ”

Group buying website Profitability enhancement is an indisputable fact, a number of industry insiders revealed that the current group buying industry gross profit margin is basically about 8%, higher than the vicious competition when 3% to 5%. Profitability from the group purchase site refinement Management, they have in 2012 to reduce the brand to promote the budget, more important reason is that they and offline business relationship quietly changed.

Change is reflected in the sale of group buying products, group buying site began to take "to provide more choice" business ideas, the ground to carry out a large number of land merchants and long-term sales, "one day a group" is being opened, sales cycle in 35 days or so of the group purchase project replaced, with a view to maximize the capture of netizens buy consumption may. On this basis, the number of buy goods significantly increased.

Group purchase site changes, in the final analysis from the offline business and buy this form of the meaning of the new thinking. Group 800 website co-founder Hu Chen said according to the strength of the discount, offline businesses have different expectations of promotional means, "40 percent of the following is pure group purchase, in order to pull new customers, 40 percent to 80 percent is a discount, so that by virtue of Word-of-mouth" good again ", more than 80 percent basic as a membership card, is to maintain loyal customers. "With the increase in experience, offline businesses began to use the Internet as a normal marketing model." Businesses even began to segment group buying consumers, after analyzing the customer unit price, targeted to do promotional activities.

The Matthew effect of the giant's introduction

The Giants have revised the direction of the industry, and the huge amount of traffic that the Giants have has provided a greater living space for the group buying site.

From the development of China's Internet, the giant established "the status of the river" is almost any subdivision of the industry from the "Robin competition" phase of the logo. Compared with 2011, the 2012 domestic network group buying market showed more clear centralized signal: The 2012 top ten independent group purchase site deals Total 19.84 billion yuan, accounting for the annual purchase turnover of 92.8%, and in 2011 this number is 87.6%. U.S. group Network Vice President Wang Huiwen revealed that the United States network December 2012 single month turnover exceeded 800 million yuan. The Pyramid Group buys the website turnover to be concentrated unceasingly, the Matthew effect further intensifies.

To promote the industry to end vicious competition, but also from the internet giants of interest, 2012 they in the group buying industry is very high-profile: January 2012, Taobao's own cost-effective announced its open strategy, the United States Group Network, full network and so on its platform, to the end, The total value of the annual turnover of 20.75 billion yuan, is 2.03 times times in 2011, Tencent through investment into the high net and the Group F large shareholders, and then guide high friends, F Group and QQ Group buy three stations merged, Sword refers to mobile internet.

The change in the industry from the big one is two. On the one hand, they revise the direction of industry development. In the second half of 2011, many group buying site to the physical category group buy, but since the construction of warehousing and logistics delivery costs can not be avoided, the greater challenge from the consumer's online shopping habits. 2012, the independent Group purchase site group purchase product sales only 2.16 billion yuan, accounting for the overall 10% or so. Shou said, "from the cost of the squeeze, the mission to buy the site has to be the focus of development back to the Localization service group." ”

On the other hand, the internet giant, which has no advantage in the local service sector, has outsourced some group buying to independent group buying sites, despite the risk of diluting the brand, the huge amount of traffic the Giants have has been "invaluable" in buying sites that cannot afford to burn money, providing a greater living space.

Mobile Internet brings life

To thrive on the mobile Internet, group buying sites must cater to consumers ' different requirements in the user experience

Groupon's "Life" comes from the booming mobile internet in 2012. Today, consumers are more likely to search for buying information by location or consumer projects or even specific businesses. With the help of mobile Internet location Service, the group buying website finally has the ability to undertake the change of this usage habit of consumer. Handle Network chairman Wu said: "O2O (from line to line) is the first big opportunity for mobile Internet, for group buying industry, the next year will become the key to competition." ”

Data show that in the second half of 2012, the use of mobile devices to buy life services commodities into the outbreak period, the growth rate is 4 times times higher than the first half of the year, turnover accounted for 80% of the total. Therefore, in the mobile internet to wind up, group buying site must cater to consumers in the user experience of different requirements. The first is a quick response to time. Group Purchase website Litters Mall Chairman and CEO Xu Maodong said: "The entire mobile end of the purchase within 1 hours after the immediate consumption accounted for more than 20%." "Then, there will be in the key areas to form a certain product density, to provide consumers with enough choice, especially in the two or three-line city, which is the group purchase site under the offline resources to put forward higher requirements."

However, the mobile Internet to buy the site to bring the positive is not just more consumption. The characteristic of the instant consumption The mission buys the website to be able to settle with the offline merchant more quickly in the consumption flow, simultaneously also can save a large part to deal with the post-sale problem the energy. Consumption is limited to a certain region, so that consumers reduce the sensitivity of the price, which also allows the site to take a breath from the low gross margin of malicious competition, to provide a higher discount "preferential attraction" category of goods.