BuddeBlog

In February 2011, Coupon-based group buying services launched in Sydney and Melbourne by the shopping Web site Stardeals, a part of the global Groupon network. It offers a daily deal on the best local goods, services and cultural events.

Group buying is popular in the US, where a Web site will offer a new deal for one or two days only. The operators use the power of group or bulk-buying to negotiate discounts with retailers, and receive a commission for the number of coupons they sell online, entitling the holder to the discount. The deal ends when all coupons are sold or a time limit is reached.

Stardeals will leverage the best practices Groupon has pioneered in more than 40 countries around the globe to change the face of local commerce.”

The Australian group buying market is currently the fastest growing sector in the online retail space. The arrival of big online multi-nationals such as Google, Facebook and Groupon in this space offers opportunities for agencies representing merchants in deal negotiations and analytics.

The market generated $63 million in 2010, its first year, according to Telsyte. Most of the industry’s revenues came in the second half. Telsyte forecasts the market to grow by 284% to $242 million in 2011 and hit $545 million by the end of 2014.

A recent offer for Sydneysiders on Stardeals was a three-course meal for two at Le Kiosk, Shelley Beach, for $70, claimed to be a value of $158 (sample dishes: ginger and scallop ravioli; grilled baby snapper with coconut; and trio of crème brûlée).

See Also:

• Australia – Digital Economy – Advertising, Statistics, Revenues and Forecasts
• Australia – Digital Economy – E-commerce – Trends and Statistics

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011 at 11:06 am and is filed under News & Views. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.