Groupon brews into Chinese market

Absrtact: Following the rejection of Google's 6 billion-dollar takeover request, Groupon, the US group buying site, is brewing into the Chinese market. All of a sudden, the industry and the comments constantly, especially in China, people are more concerned about such an alligator came in, the Chinese group buying market a new round of shuffle.

After rejecting Google's 6 billion-dollar takeover request, Groupon, the US group buying site, is brewing into the Chinese market.

All of a sudden, the industry and the comments constantly, especially in China, people are more concerned about such an alligator came in, the Chinese group buying market a new round of shuffle.

In the United States, Groupon in 1 years 4 months to create a unique profit model of 1.35 billion U.S. dollars in market capitalisation, dubbed the "craziest Internet companies", while in China only half a year, its model will trigger the hot situation of the Thousand-Regiment war, such as "Scourge" Head into the domestic ordinary people's life: just move the keyboard, you can enjoy ultra-low discount concessions. But the domestic net buys disorderly elephant also gradually "rise up", make "credit" become the biggest mishap that the domestic group buys development faces.

If the originator of the big alligator force into the Chinese market, the original and the copycat between, is bound to create a round success or failure.

"Triple win" copy

"61 yuan can enjoy the original price of 268 yuan Hotpot", "29 yuan can enjoy the original price of 80 Yuan film package", can even "1 yuan Group buy ipad", "0 yuan to draw a new house." It's not a dream, it's a crazy group deal.

Crazy "Buy", from the United States Groupon Group purchase site.

Groupon is not America's first group buying site. However, it earned 50 million dollars in the first year of its existence, earning a value of $1.35 billion in 1.5. Groupon now has more than 12 million registered users and is expected to earn about $350 million a year, just by Time magazine's list of the world's top 50 sites in 2010.

Groupon can "run out" not only because of its simple business model, but also because of its efficient profit model: launching an online group purchase every day, at a very low discount price, to provide a product or service to the user, and ultimately to complete the transaction via online payment. For 10 percent to 50 percent of the temptation, users will often take the initiative through a variety of social communication, snowball-like growth team. Therefore, there is no need to take the initiative to "pay" for businesses that have always had marketing and promotional needs, compared to advertising on television and radio.

"Baidu, the public comments, 58 with the city and net to meet the promotion needs of merchants", the first to learn Groupon model of the United States Network CEO Wang quite touched, "but if you can launch a group purchase on Groupon, not only do a free advertising, but also to win a huge income."

For Groupon, the end result is a commission from a merchant-user transaction, which is said to be as high as 30% to 50%.

"Three win" under the huge success, the birth of the Chinese internet group buying market blowout. January 2010, has founded the school, the Rice Wang, once again with its team began to develop the United States Mission Network. Since April, the domestic group buying site has been almost daily 5 of the speed of "savage" growth, the latest statistics show that currently has a certain size of group buying enterprises have reached 1215, and most of the dream to become China's Groupon.

The expansion of the group buying market has also rapidly influenced the consumption habits of Chinese consumers.

Taobao "Poly" launched by the Mercedes-Benz Smart Limited group purchase activities, in a short 3 hours and 28 minutes to 205 Smart Taobao Special edition of the Order. This sales is almost SMART2009 year in China's annual sales of 1/20, the domestic well-known group purchase site F Group Shanghai Station, launched 0 yuan to buy "China Unicom iPhone4 contract Plan" 300 yuan preferential activities, less than 42 hours to sell 160,000 contracts; The glutinous Rice Regiment once sold 150,000 movie tickets ... "Did you have a regiment today?" became one of the hottest golden sentences of the 2010.

The great potential of the Chinese market makes the originator of Groupon "unable to restrain".

After Groupon rejected Google's 6 billion dollar takeover request in December 2010, the president and chief operating officer Rob Solomon revealed the company's global business expansion plan, which will consider aggressively entering the Chinese market.

The pie that fell in the sky?

Buy "Fire", but "pie" may become "trap" at any time.

June 25 last year, a well-known Beijing group buying website broke "Scandal", "43 yuan can buy up to 333 (1 Yuan 1) of a game center coins." In such a purchasing power price, many "Parin" are in the middle of the recruit. Half a day, the purchase of merchandise was crazy rob a free, and finally sold 13,333 copies. But when the "Parin" arrived at the center of the game, they found the door closed, as well as the consumers outside the door.

As a result, in the mass Netizen's denunciation and the Beijing Chaoyang District Industry and Commerce Branch office, the famous group buying website finally made to the consumer's loss "the full unconditional refund" the pledge, but the incident has let the group buying credit crisis surface.

"It used to be one or two times a week, but now I'm basically buying once every two days, from catering to everyday wear, to buying all of them." "Group buy Talent Deng said," so expensive things suddenly become very cheap, the beginning will feel incredible, and later experience more, buy things slowly up, the number also went up. ”

Even in the high credibility of large group purchase site "orders", "recruit" consumers are also a few. In addition to the most common "goods are not on board", there are "in a non-existent", for example, coupons can only watch movies under 60 yuan, but almost all the movie tickets are more than 70 yuan, and even the closed game to carry out a fictitious deal, and so on, all make "Parin" to buy start at a loss, like chicken: not Regiment it, Like Miss good Things, regiment, do not know who to believe.

Statistics on the present, more than 80% of the Internet users to buy sites have mistrust.

The low threshold of "gross profit" and "Fishy"

Why is pregnant with huge wealth snowball group buys, to China has become "chicken ribs"? Is there a problem with the profit model, or is the deception of "doing a vote"?

"The threshold of entrepreneurship is not high is an important factor." "A person in the industry told reporters that the lack of originality in the Chinese market, the current instant rise of the group purchase site, up to the operating mode, down to the website interface, most of the direct imitation of Groupon, and some even the same tone of the page." "The minimum ' configuration ' for a group buying site is 1 customer service, 3 sales, 3 editors, 1 technology and a part-time photography, and not even 20,000 dollars in hardware. ”

The person pointed out that the huge wealth temptation and the almost non-existent entry threshold, so that group buy everyone has the ability to get a piece, but not everyone has the ability to do well. "Its technical structure is built, 32 part-time software engineers can be completed." He said, but in order to win more quality business, it is necessary to train dozens of or even hundreds of of sales to negotiate with merchants, this is a difficult thing to do.

"Not to do the difference, but the optimization", Wang Frankly, also implied that the Chinese group buying mode as a whole there is no difference can be said, the most optimized indicators can only be compared to retreat "to get good products, to negotiate a good price."

"Ultimately, price competition, everything else is ' cloud '." "A once in the field of group buying," the entrepreneur Liu said frankly, and other electronic products, group purchase site is difficult to have user loyalty, as long as others out of the price of goods cheaper, users will be lost. The vast majority of group buying site Red Sea Survival rule is: in order to attract customers with low discounts, at the "loss to make a yell."

"This is different from the European and American markets. "In love to help network CEO Jianguo (Micro Bo) it seems that the European and American merchants to buy the understanding, more like an advertisement, willing to hit the money, but at home, merchants generally expect" a single "will be able to profit, to give Chinese group purchase site discount is generally low. In this way, group buying site is basically "gross profit", and some even at a loss, in order to seek quality merchants and market seeds.

On the other hand, China's services sector as a whole is lagging behind the European and American countries, the scarcity of high-quality merchants, high-quality businesses have a higher bargaining power to determine the discount line and select the object of cooperation; inferior merchant, although the discount is much, but may lose the trust degree and reputation.

"Now the situation is a business can find a number of websites to negotiate prices, businesses occupy the absolute initiative." In the early days of entrepreneurship, many sites in order to attract consumers, can only desperately squeeze their own profits at the same time, and even invited the merchant to crush product quality, so as to reduce costs. Although the consumer sees the purchase product to be more below 50 percent, but the merchant gives the website the discount may be lower "therefore can only from the product quality ' squeeze ' the profit, lets the consumer for the fishy ' to pay '".

"If you think back to the development of micro-blogging in China, it is not difficult to find a greater threat may be Sina, happy net, Tencent, such as the number of users of the scale of the super platform." One founder worried that once the buy market was developed, user formation habits later, these platforms, including foreign eyeing the internet giant alligator, just want to launch a group buying "components", a large number of merchants, users will run to these platforms, the current group buying network may fall into the "for others to do wedding clothes" situation.

"Local group buying site to be in the shuffle to survive, we must establish a standardized market and improve their service system as soon as possible." "Liu Jicheng law firm in Guangdong province, lawyers believe that on the one hand, the industry regulations to be as detailed as possible, such as the provision of network trading platform services operators should establish consumer dispute reconciliation and consumer rights of self-regulation system, to provide consumers with the real registration information, etc. So that consumers in the network trading platform to buy goods or accept services can be more confident, establish user loyalty; On the other hand, the operators of network trading platform service should also establish contracts with merchants, safeguard their lawful rights and interests, and establish the credit degree of merchants.

At the same time as the big crocodile crouched the Chinese market, group buying's Chinese-style survival also sent a declaration of war to Groupon.