i'd like to step back a few years and look at where Groupon came from. back in the haze of what is now a billion dollar enterprise, there was a little company called ThePoint. now, this little site was created with activism in mind. the idea was to bring a pile of folks together, and if there were enough of them, then they'd stage some kind of action. right now there's a push to make Starbucks offer free WiFi. once 100,000 sign on then they will all commit to not buying drinks at the shops.
now this is nice and all. its basically a big disconnected version of signing a petition. from this idea of getting a bunch of folks to commit to something we get the idea of Groupon. a certain number of folks agree to buy something, the deal 'tips' [it's suddenly worth it for TheGap to offer a 50% off coupon] and everyone's credit cards get charged.
so, excellent. 11million folks get a Gap coupon. they go buy stuff.
now lets look at China.
the interesting thing about the US is that we have fixed prices. retailers write a price on a little tag and we all abide by it. this is why coupons work. another little tag is given to us that overrides that price tag. but in most other companies there's more of a 'suggested' price going on. walk through a market in Bangkok. if you see something you like and get a price on it not only is it customary to argue that price, if you just go with it the seller will be offended!
China is the same way. the big retailers have only recently arrived in force with their big box stores and mandated prices. and this doesn't quite sit right with the average Chinese. so what do they do? well, they arrive in force and demand a group price!
"Of particular interest is the tuangou (‘team purchase’) phenomenon, which involves strangers organizing themselves around a specific product or service. Think electronics, home furnishings, cars and so on. These likeminded then meet up in real-world shops and showrooms on a coordinated date and time, literally mobbing the seller, negotiating a group discount on the spot."
interestingly, a site like Groupon, as it moves toward setting up a bit more social media aspects and creates two sided rating scales for buyers and sellers, is all set to make this happen in the US. if a crowd of moms walked into a Target and demanding that they sell 5 packs of diapers for the price of 3 they probably wouldnt get very far. but if Groupon brought back ThePoint and put the control of pricing on the shoppers side . . . well, that would be something.
as online coupon sites have started to move from small and local to big box and national manufacturers they're going to have to come up with a next step. they have the clout. it's just a matter of getting folks to believe that their dollars are all the power they need.
incidentally, there is a site doing this to some extent in the UK, and i know of at least a few moms who've chosen to circumvent retailers all together setting up group buys direct from manufacturers based somewhat on how Co-ops work.
flash mob + credit card?
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