A new study has revealed that the online buying groups market grew from $71.8 million in Q1 2011 to $123.9 million in Q2 2011, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 72%. The market is on track to reach or exceed $400 million by the end of 2011. “Australian consumers are spoilt for choice with group buying deals. The market has gone from publishing around 800 deals a month at the end of 2010, to currently around 4000 deals a month” Sam Yip, Senior Research Manager at Telsyte says. Consumers have been quick to take up the barrage of offers, with over 2.6 million vouchers sold in Q2 2011. The average number of vouchers sold per month in Q2 2011 was just under 900,000 and is likely to exceed 1 million in July. “Although the health and beauty segment is still growing, it is beginning to show signs of saturation as hyper-growth is slowing down. In response to this, sites will need to expand into other sub categories of health and beauty beyond general hair, spa, and relaxation” says Yip. National deals continued to grow, representing 17% of the market, up from 13% last quarter. The multi-national group buying sites Groupon (trading as Stardeals) and Living Social (including Jump On It) gained market share after a period of aggressively investing in advertising and marketing. The fastest growing site was Groupon (Stardeals), with the site experiencing 1,356% quarter on quarter growth, moving it up to 5th position in the market overall. The top 8 group buying sites (Scoopon, Cudo, Living Social, Spreets, Groupon, OurDeal, Deals.com.au, and Ouffer) generated 90% of industry revenues. However, sites outside the top 8 are also growing strongly, making it a dynamic and highly competitive market. |
