Simply enter your spend amounts and get an instant quote based on actual contract terms and conditions. As I mentioned, my own experience of using CityDeals to try out some new restaurants was very disappointing. Now I don’t know if this was because I was a group buying customer or these restaurants usually treat their customers badly. A large, successful operation, with a huge marketing budget and thousands of your prospective customers at their call comes to you, offering much needed exposure to your venue, and the opportunity to drive guaranteed footfall in your door.

If done right, they will find a resolution whether it’s something they offer or not. Your GPO should connect you with a contract quickly, allowing your business group buying sites to start saving within days or weeks versus months. Pre-negotiated contracts exist so the procurement process can run faster and more efficiently.

1. Although shoppers in the United Arab Emirates are among the wealthiest and most discerning in the world, online retail has struggled to find room.
2. Group buying, also known as collective buying or purchasing group, is a strategy where individuals unite their purchasing power to get substantial discounts on goods purchased.
3. Two of the most powerful engines behind this trend are online daily deals and digital coupons.
4. These drawbacks shouldn’t stop you from checking LivingSocial if you can’t find what you want on Groupon though.
5. If not, you may want to reconsider your marketing strategy—especially if it’s a local marketing strategy.

In regular retail transactions, you have full control over what you buy and when it arrives. Don’tPayFull’s guide on Group Buying provides more insights about this aspect. This concept works like bulk shopping but with multiple people sharing both cost and quantity instead of one person bearing all costs and ending up with surplus items.

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Any business, regardless of size, can join a GPO and take advantage of this strength-in-numbers concept to save money, time, and effort. In recent times, group buying websites such as Pinduoduo in China have emerged in the online shopping business. Typically, these websites feature a “deal of the day”, with the deal kicking in when a set number of people agree to buy the product or service.

Group Buying Websites Battle for Middle East Shoppers with Online Bargains

Una is on a mission to empower procurement leaders like yourself to save more money, time, and effort. We do this by giving you the tools and resources you need to elevate your existing procurement strategies with the power of group purchasing. I recently availed of some In an effort to answer this question, I’m going to argue that group buying sites do provide businesses with an effective marketing channel, but only when used properly. What has helped the rapid growth of group buying websites in the Middle East has been the use of social networks to promote deals, and expand membership, Toukan notes.

How to Maximize Savings with Group Buying

Cobone’s record for the fastest-selling vouchers is when, in only 13 hours, it sold US$100,000 worth of brunches at the Madinat Jumeirah resort in Dubai. Usually, voucher prices are under the equivalent of US$100, but could be more; the priciest deal sold was a US$30,000 Cobone coupon to buy a Nissan Pathfinder. Savings.com opportunities split evenly among online coupons (coupon codes), printable coupons, and straight-up “amazing deals” that don’t require coupons at all. You’ll find some unorthodox opportunities here as well, like $10 off a $50+ Brooks Brothers order when you create a free online account with the clothier. And Savings.com is an excellent place to find high-value discounts, like $500 off select appliance purchases at Lowe’s or $350 off select jewelry purchases at Zale’s. Although its discounts aren’t as deep as some competitors, Rakuten’s cash-back model offers greater breadth of savings opportunities with participating merchants — perfect for shoppers who aren’t quite sure what they want.

Cost of Acquisition

Typically, GPOs unite businesses, healthcare providers, or other organizations with similar procurement needs to achieve economies of scale with group buys, resulting in cost savings. By aggregating the purchasing volume of multiple members, GPOs negotiate bulk discounts with suppliers that sell products, leading to lower prices, improved terms, and often enhanced product or service quality. At some point, almost by definition, this has to cannibalize your existing business. If you give more and more business away at cost, consumers are trained to expect it at cost. Somebody has to provide your profit.” If businesses increase their prices, however, customers have an incentive to wait for a discount. Using group buying sites can lead to cost savings through bulk purchasing and lower prices, allowing businesses to offer discounted prices without compromising profitability.

Besides general deal sites, there are also niche-specific platforms catering specifically towards certain industries or interests such as office supplies for businesses. A common manifestation is seen among small businesses in need of office supplies. These entities form local groups or join pre-existing ones to take advantage of volume purchasing represented through combined orders from all members within the group. You’ll find a massive variety of offers, too, including discounts on spa treatments, hotel rooms, and fashion. And keep in mind that using either a buying group or group purchasing organization is only one piece of the puzzle. There are plenty of ways to get creative in procurement and building a comprehensive strategy will only help push you towards reaching your goals.

RetailMeNot also has an extensive cash-back section fueled by affiliate arrangements with major retailers like Macy’s and Staples. These payouts are very nice — routinely as high as 20%, compared with a maximum of 5% to 10% from the most generous cash-back credit cards on the market. You do need a RetailMeNot account to get cash back through the site, but it costs nothing and takes just a few minutes to sign up, so there’s little downside. RetailMeNot is a massive online coupon aggregator with hundreds of thousands of coupons at tens of thousands of digital and brick-and-mortar retailers. Basically, if a retailer you’ve heard of has a coupon-based sale on right now, it’s probably available through RetailMeNot. “With travel, consumers [buy an experience that takes place] offline,” maintains Anisha Singh, founder and CEO of Mydala.com, a group buying site which started in Delhi and Mumbai in November 2009.

The small success of these startups attracted their Western counterparts to the Middle East. Groupon set up a UAE website with much fanfare in March, and then in June, Washington, D.C.-based LivingSocial, the second group buying leader after Groupon, bought https://simple-accounting.org/ GoNabit for an undisclosed amount. For GoNabit, this was the opportunity to be sustained by a larger company, a key factor enabling longer-term survival with this business model. In quick succession, the Gulf market now has close to a dozen competitors.

What is a buying group?

“Our name might attract web-surfers,” says Faisal Haq, general manager for Groupon Middle East. “Although, when we start in a new region, we face similar challenges as for any new business.” Being first, they have learned, has its benefits. In Brazil and India, local group discount purveyors, such as Peixe Urbano and SnapDeal, are doing better than Groupon. “The daily deals market has network effects and economies of scale,” Hosanagar says. Online group buying gained prominence in other parts of Asia during 2010 with new websites in Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Always do your due diligence by researching the legitimacy of a site or organizer prior to getting involved. Before joining a buying group, make sure to read the fine print regarding things like membership details, applicable fees, and purchasing requirements. Most buying groups are funded by membership dues, where organizations are asked to pay as much as six-figures to participate.

Just don’t waste your time searching for local vouchers or discounts on intangible services. Yes, group buying platforms can be integrated with a regular eCommerce website to enhance its functionality. Through integration, the eCommerce site can offer customers the option to adopt the group buying model for bulk discounts. This can be achieved using plugins, extensions, or custom development to add group buying features to the existing site.