news Online group buying deals are finding favour with more and more Australians, going by sales figures. According to local emerging technology analyst firm Telsyte, the online group buying market generated revenues worth $498 million in 2011.
Starting in 2010, the online group buying industry with its exciting deals has lured enough Australians to become half a billion dollars worth in a short span of time. Some 5000 deals have been published and an average of one million vouchers sold each month. And market growth is expected to continue with more multinational players coming into the fray, better deals and loyalty programs to keep customers. Telsyte expects the group buying market to grow an additional 30 per cent in 2012, exceeding $600 million and reaching $1 billion no later than 2015.
Telsyte research reveals that physical products (such as jewellery, electronics and clothing) have been the best performing category, accounting for 30 per cent of the total market share. In a media release, Telsyte Senior Research Manager Sam Yip said, “Increased focus on physical product sales in group buying will change the face of the industry, and introduce competition between deal of the day and grocery and discount online department stores.”
2012 will be a year of continued market growth fuelled by the refocussing of group buying sites on driving customer loyalty, believes Telsyte. “In 2012 loyalty programs and targeted deals will continue to drive sales, while leading sites will enhance their mobile commerce strategies and expand their offerings,” said Yip.
The top eight group buying sites for 2011, which according to Yip generate about 95 per cent of the market revenue, were Scoopon, LivingSocial, Spreets, Cudo, Groupon, OurDeal, Deals.com.au, and Ouffer. In all, more than 80 sites were in operation in 2011, but Telsyte expects that the barriers to entry will increase in 2012 and some sites will fail due to lack of scale.
According to Yip, this year will see the local group buying sites compete with multinational players. This will mean bigger discounts, better quality deals, more offers and more loyalty programs to win over and keep Australian customers. The fourth quarter results show the continued rise of multinational group buying sites like LivingSocial and Groupon. Groupon was market leader in December 2011, while LivingSocial was ahead in Q4. Overall, though, it was Scoopon that was the market leader in 2011.
Image credit: Max Romersa, royalty free
I love the coupon sites, my life has not been the same since the likes of Cudo and Living Social popped Up!
Looks to be even better in 2012 though as their are now Cash back sites popping into the market, like cashrewards.com.au which offer straight cash back as well as the daily deals and coupons, Used to use fatwallet.com in the US, though good to see the market opening up downunder.
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