Vietnam sees success with group buying sites

Group buying and daily deal sites like Groupon and LivingSocial have spawned thousands of clones around the world and Vietnam is no exception. The coupon sites are catching on there in a big way.

An article on Vietnam.net says that Groupon-like sites were introduced in Vietnam last year and have quickly become popular with students and white-collar workers.

According to Vu Hong Quang, a representative of the Southern VC Corp which owns muachung.com, there are currently 20 such sites in the country offering from 40 to 70 percent savings on products and services. After just 7 months of operation his site already has 100,000 members. Muachung.com’s main competitor, nhommua.com has the same number of registered users but even some of the newer sites have 60,000 members.

As we’ve seen here in the states, daily deals sites can create a winning situation all around. Businesses get some much needed traffic, the coupon sites get a commission for pulling in that traffic and consumers get a good deal. And Vietnamese are loving this model. One expert in online business, Minh Bui, says these sites create a form of interactive promotion and marketing that allows businesses to have a better idea of how many people are using their products or services.

The manager of Lazi resort in the coastal province of Binh Thuan, Do Tuan Hung Manh, sold 600 accommodation vouchers on cungmua.com in just four days. He said that group buying sites can solve the problem of the drop in occupancy that hotels experience during the week days.

The article on Vietnam.net goes on to say that daily deal sites are not without their share of problems. Since many consumers are not familiar or comfortable with online payments, most vouchers are purchased by money transfer or cash on delivery. Vouchers are often lost or delivered late and the cost of delivery can be costly.

There’s also the problem of many merchants that don’t follow the rules of the contract, provide inferior service or treat voucher holders differently than they do customers that are paying full price.

Despite these issues, most of which we have seen here in the states as well, the group buying and daily deals industry seems to be thriving in Vietnam. Says Manh who believes offering a deal has benefited his resort, success comes from quality of service, price and customer trust.

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