Three months ago, the internet group buying service Groupon managed to offend Tibetans and Beijing in just 30 seconds with a television commercial screened to millions. But the head of the company's Hong Kong branch says it is moving on.
'Yes, everyone is just focused on growing the business. If there was something that did not work or perhaps offended the wrong people, of course, we learn from it and will definitely not do it again,' Danny Yeung Sheng-wu said.
The 32-year-old recently joined the family after his group buying site called ubuyibuy was acquired by US-based Groupon, touted as the world's fastest growing company ever.
Online group buying is a relatively new phenomenon in Hong Kong. It allows online shoppers to save money by bulk-buying coupons with other shoppers. Users get savings of between 50 and 90 per cent.
For example, one of Yeung's first group buying deals was a HK$400 hair treatment at Toni & Guy that users could buy for HK$99. That deal sold 400 vouchers within 24 hours.
Despite the backlash in February over a Groupon TV advert that parodied celebrity public service announcements, Yeung said the damage caused to the company in the US did not hurt Hong Kong's group buying scene.
