Group buying, also called collective buying, is a business model that offers a product or service at a significantly reduced price on the condition that a minimum number of buyers commit to the purchase, with the discount only taking effect once that threshold is reached. The practice originated in China, where it is known as tuan gou, or team buying, and typically works by having customers submit payment for a deal online, with vouchers issued once enough subscribers join. It was popularized internationally by Groupon, which drew a reported 6 billion dollar acquisition offer from Google in 2011, alongside rivals such as LivingSocial and Google's own Google Offers, and by 2010 more than 1,200 group-buying sites had launched in China alone with over 500 operating worldwide.
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Partially Attested
Origin YearGroup buying has older real-world antecedents such as agricultural cooperative purchasing, but the daily-deal, coupon-style online group-buying model this entity describes is conventionally dated to Groupon's November 2008 launch, the platform credited with popularizing the modern form; 2008 marks that launch, not the wider concept's older history. Core MechanismIn online group buying, a deal only activates once enough people commit to purchasing it, so an offer is confirmed and vouchers or products are only distributed after a minimum number of buyers has signed up. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Group buying, offering discounts once enough buyers commit, is an e-commerce industry model popularized by daily-deal sites.
Group buying deals, discounting a purchase once enough buyers commit, are a marketing-driven customer-acquisition tactic that trades margin for a surge in exposure and new customers.
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