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Smart Mob in China for Retailer Discount

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the tried-in-the-us-but-mob-was-arrested-as-terrorists dept.

taweili writes "The Economist has a story about Tuangou in China. Tuangou, roughly translated into group purchasing, is basically a smart mob who arrange the meet up over the internet and show up at a retailer at a specific time and use their number to negotiate a discount with the retailer. In the story, a Tuangou group of 500 show up in Gomei (largest home electronic retailer in China) at 4pm on June 16th and negotiate a 10 ~ 30% discount for the group. Gomei not only closed the door to the normal customers but also prepared goody bags for these Tuangou shoppers. Now, that's Power to the People!"

2 of 301 comments (clear)

  1. Chinese Mass Hysteria by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This sounds more like a case of Chinese mass hysteria and a spin on a very common scam used by confidence tricksters and indeed marketers everwhere. Ok you are a retailer, you get someone skilled in the art to arange for 500 people to "flashmob" your store then you sell them loads of crap at the usual discount you give to everyone else - oh just be chance you have a few goody bags on hand. If I was ordering in quantities of 500 I would expect big discounts.

    It works because people are happy to part with money when they see their peers doing likewise and they hate to pass up a bargain.

    Trust the Economist to be taken in by it - but then they believed in that Enron really was a new business model based on the lightweight economy.

  2. Re:I don't think this would work in the US by Bravoc · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Actually, I do this all the time.

    One of my hobbies is 4X4 Trucks (old Ford Broncos specifically). It is not uncommon at all for us to put together a "group buy" on something. Some inspired indavidual will contact a vendor for some product; a winch, wiring harness, tires, wheels, shocks, etc. and propose a "group buy"

    The vendor will give us a critical mass quantity (usually around 10 or so) and offer a substantial discount (10%-30%). There is usually an email storm that then insues as news of the deal is circulated. If the quantity and deadline are met, the vendor ships the product to the individuals that participated in the offering

    Smaller scale than "hundreds" of people, but I have gotten some pretty sweet deals doing this.

    Yes, it works in the U.S.