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Tapping in to group-buying power

Yuan

Shopping on the internet has become a more popular way of buying goods on the mainland, especially among young people. Many online shoppers are also tapping in to group-buying sites to get extra discounts.

The online group buying idea is growing rapidly. According to official data, by September this year there were 1,215 group-buying companies. Many are based in big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The companies offer discounts if a group of people agree to buy a certain number of products, often within a certain a time.

One of the companies' major target groups is college students, who receive a lot of offers. For example, one heavily promoted group-buying deal on the internet was offering students 29-yuan (HK$34) double film tickets, five-yuan haircuts and a six-hour KTV session for 48 yuan.

Ouyang Huilin, a business student of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, bought two film tickets in a group deal from ditatuan.com. 'The two film tickets only cost me 55 yuan, and my friend and I also got two bottles of Coke and a bag of popcorn for free at the cinema. It's really a good deal.'

Law student Zheng Jiajian also thinks group buying is a great deal. 'I paid 68 yuan for a spa service for my girlfriend, which was originally priced at 600 yuan. And I paid 39 yuan for two 3-D film tickets.'

Website mxfy.com polled 146 students about group buying in an online survey and 41 per cent of the respondents had heard of the idea but not considered trying it. About a quarter said they tried it once in a while, 19 per cent said they wanted to try it, and 12 per cent said they knew nothing about it. Four per cent considered themselves group-buying experts.

Coco Liu, who works for an e-commerce company, is a group-buying veteran. 'The online sales promotions are updated every day and the products always are quickly sold out in the morning, so you must pay close attention to the group-buying websites if you want to get some bargains,' she says.

But business student Tan Shanshan sees online group buying as a trap. 'Some people can't help buying stuff, they shop whether they need it or not. As a result, people will pay a lot of money for things they don't need.'

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