The fastidious stat compilers at GoodLife have released June statistics for Taiwan’s group buying market, which increased yet again 12.4% last month to a monthly total of $261 million NT (US $9 million), a jump over last month’s 5.4% growth.
Some interesting tidbits behind the numbers:
Groupon is still king of the hill
Groupon’s share of the pie grew to 48.1% from 46.6% the month before. When we visited their offices in late April, the company had an entire floor of sales staff, which seems to be paying off for them in a big way. Its sales jumped almost 16%, which did not match the growth of second place Gomaji, which posted almost 40% sales growth.
Of course, across the Pacific, the tech and finance industries are abuzz with Groupon’s IPO announced last month. The $750 million to be raised values the company at around $20 billion (whoa.), which has drawn criticism from many. Especially interesting is their introduction of a new revenue metric called CSOI (adjusted consolidated segment operating income), which ignores certain costs (like marketing), that the company uses to illustrate the core health of the company despite its negative profits. Criticisms aside, its hard to argue their performance in Taiwan this year.
Nuomi joins the market, newbie Yahoo ends its second month
June saw a new player enter the market, Nuomi. The newcomer, Nuomi, hails from the mainland as the group buying brand of Renren, the massive Chinese social network that went public in May. They debuted at 12th on the list, with $370,000 (US $11k) in sales. Interestingly, they had the lowest average deal of all the market players, with an average of 129 NT ($4) per deal. Is that happenstance, or market strategy?
The addition of Nuomi means Yahoo Discounts is no longer the new kid on the block. Yahoo hit the market in May, but saw a deep retraction of growth: sales slid -46% in June. Ouch. This stood in stark contrast to Yam’s 130% jump in sales, which took the group seller to 4th place behind Groupon, Gomaji, and 17life.
Mango deals and coupon aftermarkets
A Taiwan mango is a thing to behold. It seems the group buyers agree, arranging 18 separate deals for mangoes in June. Also, a secondary market for group buying coupons has appeared. Is the derivative economy a trend or the real deal?
Top 3 deals of the month:
- Gomaji – Qingjing in Taichung offered a “Florence, Constantinople” bed and breakfast getaway, originally $8680, on sale for $3980. 2,179 total sales for a total of 8.6 million NT (~$300k)
- Gomaji – a Leofoo Inn bed and breakfast package in vacation spot Kenting, originally 7210 NT, on sale for 2899 NT. 1,682 purchases for a total value of 4.9 million NT (~$160k)
- Groupon – a four-person all-you-can-eat spicy hotpot deal, originally 2200 NT, on sale for 1199 NT. 1682 purchased for a total of 399k NT (~$134k)
June was an interesting month for groupbuying, let’s see if the big growth numbers continue.
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