Bargain Hunters Join Forces

[Wygy]

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/07/16/onl...hina/index.html

Welcome to China's hottest sport for shoppers: tuangou, or team buying.

The game goes like this: Individuals band together via online BBS (bulletin board systems), chat rooms and other web forums around products they are interested in purchasing, from fast food to cars or furniture. Once a team amasses enough members, their appointed captain approaches retailers to organize in-store haggling sessions.

"The final price was beyond my expectations," said Ellen Liu who recently bought a purple Toyota Yaris after her team called "Shanghai Yaris" negotiated a 30,000 yuan discount with a local dealer for each of its 40 members wanting to purchase the car. "We were very surprised."

Since bartering teams started to emerge around five years ago, they have increasingly become a defining characteristic both of online and offline consumerism in China, reshaping the way retailers reach out to customers on the Internet as well as how they interact with them in stores.

A number of companies, like the electronics chain Gome, have started to deal directly with the groups while dozens of professional tuangou web sites have also emerged. Retailers say they often feel they have no choice but join the bartering or lose business. Some retailers waits months just for an invitation to take part in an event.

a concept with many applications.....

[porca misèria]

a concept with many applications.....

Fair dos. Bulk buying power. Similar things happen here: for example where a bunch of people get together to buy wine at wholesale prices.

[mikthe20]

Occasionally I've been in the supermarket looking a particular item which I only want one of. Then I find it's it's say £1.50 for 1 or £2 for 2. I always feel like shouting out "anyone wanna go halves on this deal". I'd like to see the supermarket's bluff called on such deals.