According to Hu Chen, co-founder of Tuan800, a Beijing-based think tank of group buying, Chinese group buying market has gone through the blind expansion phase and now has been seeing a new wave of consolidation during which more and more services are being shut down everyday and the big guys are gobbling more market share.
Hu said that, by this May thereโre only 2996 daily deal sites in China, while more than 60% of which isnโt really in operation, down from the peak of nearly 6000 last year. Also, itโs getting harder for the minor ones to gain market share as the Big Ten literally accounted for more than 80% of the market share altogether.
The big ten, according to Tuan800, includes 58Tuan, Ftuan, Gaopeng, Meituan, DianpingTuan, DidaTuan, Lashou, Manzuo, Nuomi and 55Tuan.
Meituan claimed more than 400 million in sales in this June, up from 365 million in May. Dianping and 55Tuan generated more than 200 million in sales in May while 58Tuan, Ftuan, Lashou, Manzuo and Nuomi all made it to the 100 million club.
Speaking of consolidation, 55Tuan took over Ganjiโs group buying business in this April, then Gaopeng got merged with Ftuan just now. And weโre expected to see more similar merges in the near future.