A new method of consumption—group purchasing—is increasingly catching people’s attention. Reportedly, the sales volume for the whole year of 2010 was around 2 billion yuan, after meituan.com unveiled the country’s first group-buying website in March that year. According to a recent industry report, China’s online group purchase market is expected to reach 16.5 billion yuan in 2011, accounting for about one percent of all online retail sales.

　　Questions :
　　1. Have you tried group purchasing?
　　2. Do you like this new method of consumption? You may illustrate your opinion with examples.
　　3. What’re the pros and cons of online group purchasing? Can you predict the prospects of this emerging business model?

　　Answer for Reference:

　　For many Chinese people, especially experienced young online buyers, group purchasing makes it easy to find bargains. There has been an ever-growing popularity in group-buying websites. There are many reasons which can account for this phenomenon. Firstly, group-buying websites usually offer incredibly low prices and appealing discounts on a daily basis. Confronted with the nation’s rising prices, they seem to meet the satisfaction of young buyers without much money. Secondly, online group-buying means convenience and efficiency for time-starved consumers. Thirdly, retailers treasure such a business model of meeting a large number of potential buyers every day without huge advertising cost.

　　As a matter of fact, I’ve never tried group purchasing myself. However, seeing many of my friends happy with the products and services they group-purchased, I’ve made up my mind to give it a shot.

　　Pros of online group purchasing are obvious, while there’re some cons which cannot be avoided. We’ve all heard of complaints about poor quality of products, disparity between the services received and advertised. It’s still a new business model to most people in China. With regulations to be enacted and supervision to be strengthened, I’m convinced that it will thrive in the days to come.

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