GROUP-BUYING EFFECT : Retailers benefiting from new scheme (XINHUA)

Wang Bing was the first in the office to see the good news written on a website: A beauty salon service package, including skin care and spa massage, originally worth 960 yuan ($141.8) was suddenly selling for only 48 yuan ($7.09). After immediately booking the service and paying for it through e-bank, she shared the news with her colleagues.

It sounds like a one in a million bargain, but how hard is it to get lucky and find a 95-percent shopping discount, like the one Wang found?

"There are plenty of choices [on the website], so all I have to do is to select those that I want, then make a few mouse clicks," she said.

Wang believes that without waiting for the discount season or applying for all kinds of membership cards, anyone can take advantage of discount shopping as long as they possess a computer with Internet access.

Wang based her theory on deals being offered by an estimated 1,000 "group-buying" websites in China, which sell packages at discounted, wholesale prices. The concept is modeled on Groupon's massive success in the United States.

Under the model, websites play the role of "facilitator" for group-buying: Each day, they provide a selection of discounted products, ranging from dinners at restaurants, movies, art shows, sports events, bars, beauty services, fitness services to tour packages - and the list goes on.

At the outset, the website specifies the number of buyers that must place an order for the given product in order for the deal to be valid. (For example: 50 people.) The target must be reached within a set time, possibly 24 hours. If the number of buyers reaches the required level within that time, the group-buying deal is considered successful and the buyers can claim the product at any point until the stated expiration date. The discount is usually more than 50 percent and sometimes as high as 90 percent.

Buying fever

But what if the number of buyers for a product fails to meet the required level?

Most site operators do not even bother to consider this question. Despite being an emerging industry, online group-buying has little trouble gathering enough consumers. In fact, it appears the urge to buy can spread like a fever in the world of group-buying.

Nuomi.com, a group-buying website launched on June 23, set a record on its first day of business by offering a 40-yuan ($5.91) movie theater package of two tickets, two cokes, one bag of popcorn, and one scoop of Haagen-Dazs ice cream. The product was worth 176 yuan ($25.99) at a newly opened cinema in Beijing owned by the international movie star Jackie Chan. A total of 150,000 buyers purchased the deal.

Wang Bing was one of those 150,000 lucky buyers, having been tipped off by a friend on Messenger.

"The page explained all the details about the 40-yuan package, including pictures of the theater and even the parking facilities around it and the charges," she told ChinAfrica. "I think the product is definitely worth it!"

She passed the news to 20 other friends. "As far as I know, at least 10 of them bought the product later that day," Wang said.