Primary school teacher Liu Xiaoyan recently found an easier way to satisfy her new passion for online group shopping, or "grouponing," after Groupon, a daily deal website, localized to large markets in the United States and Canada.
Instead of searching the Internet for websites offering deep discounts for her favorite cosmetics, Liu now browses "grouponing navigators" - websites that bundle almost all the other sites with similar deals together.
"The grouponing navigators bring me a sense of window-shopping. They usually lead me to what I want at the lowest price for the day," said Liu, a 29-year-old Chinese literature teacher at a primary school at Beijing's eastern suburb Tongzhou.
"Group shopping" refers to like-minded individuals buying together in bulk on deal-of-the-day sites to secure huge discounts. The practice first appeared in Chicago two years ago, but is now popular in China.
China's first group-shopping website came on line in January this year, and by August, there were 1,215 sites, according to the Xinhua News Agency. Currently, more than 2,000 such sites are believed to be operating in China.
The group-buying sites have used deep discounts - some as much as 90 percent - to attract swarms of "Liu-like" fans.
But these group-shoppers are also faced with one dilemma - they often miss their most-wanted group-shopping opportunities, despite searching the Internet for them.
"Too many websites are offering group-shopping deals everyday. I just have no time to follow them all," said Liu, who chases food, skin care and tourist deals.
The grouponing sites seem to have resolved Liu's problem. These sites carry links to all major group-shopping websites, allow users to launch real-time searches for the group deals and have forums where group-shoppers can post their stories.
"Some of these grouponing navigators look like communities where group-shoppers can communicate to find out the best deals," said Liu.
A shopping social network
To create a true social network is the goal of almost all the major group-buying sites in China. But whether the goal can eventually be realized seems as uncertain as the future of group shopping itself, according to analysts.
"The current development of China's group-shopping businesses has provided a good climate for building group-buying sites into online communities," said Wang Qiheng, founder of goutuan.net, one of China's leading websites of this type.
Wang said one of the biggest changes brought on by the Internet is creating a "flat earth," which makes it possible for an individual to participate in a mass event without leaving the room.
Overturning the old model
"When people participate in group shopping, what they are looking for is not just low prices, and pursuing their curiosity for a new form of shopping, but also a sense of participation," Wang said.
"When these group shoppers get deep discounts from sellers, they sense the power of collective negotiations, which overthrows the traditional seller-dominated business model."
Grouponing websites must also rely heavily upon group-shopping navigators if they hope to reach more shoppers, said Wang.
"The vast majority of group-buying sites are small companies without huge capitalization and heavily-staffed teams," goutuan.net's Wang said.
"These companies' livelihoods depend on bridging the gap between sellers and buyers via the Internet. But they usually have no money to advertise what they can do.
"By linking their websites to grouponing navigators, the group-shopping sites can reach their customers as long as they really help bridge the gap between sellers and shoppers."
A survey by IDG Ventures-invested web data researcher CNZZ showed last month that 52 percent of visitors to grouponing websites were channeled via group-shopping navigators.
Quality control
Grouponing navigators' ability to police the authenticity and fairness of deals is another reason they are important to both sides.
Almost all grouponing navigators now have forums.
Shoppers can freely post comments in the forums about the quality of products and services and some navi-gators, goutuan.net for example, offer channels for complaints.
"The grouponing sites for which negative comments and complaints are frequently lodged will be de-linked from our navigator," said Gong Guangyong, founder of 57tuan.com, a leading navigator.
"When all grouponing navigators apply the same strict supervision over sellers of shoddy products and services, they will find nowhere to exist in the group-shopping business."
Last week, the China International Electronic Commerce Center, an institution under the Ministry of Commerce, started an accreditation certification process for group-shopping sites, the first such effort to regulate the group-buying business.
But such a move, non-compulsory so far, is also seen by some as a way to rake in money - 45,000 yuan ($6,754) per accreditation - rather than an effective measure for regulating and policing the industry.
"A community composed by sellers, group-shoppers and grouponing navigators will be a workable platform for self-policing the industry," said Wang Qiheng with goutuan.net.
"This should be done because all parties in the industry care about its operation and future."
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