Group buying gains favour

Group buying has been gaining favour around the world. It got its start in China as tuángòu and now hundreds of Chinese Web sites compete to provide deal-of-the-day discounts to Chinese consumers.

The Groupon site, based in the US, is a popular online destination for consumers seeking special limited-time, deep-discount deals offered by restaurants, stores, hotels, spas and other marketers.

Groupon's London branch maintains a Facebook page where thousands of fans can click to see the deal of the day, suggest new deals and send friends to sign up.

UK consumers can also find deals at Groupola.

Groupon's US competitors include LivingSocial and Tippr.

Can group buying sites be a long-term value proposition? Or is this concept maturing so rapidly that the major competitors will have to evolve other offerings to stay relevant and gain attention in an increasingly crowded marketplace?