Peter Aceto the CEO of ING Direct introduced several entrepreneurs who have jumped on the group buying band wagon. Each of them has their own unique spin on the rapidly growing space at SpiceSafar on King St W. in Toronto for the 2nd annual Social Media Week. Who knew that group buying and ING would have so much in common, but they do as they both try to help the consumer save money in one form or another.
First up was Chris Nguyen of Team Save (@teamsavetoronto) and he started off by recounting a story about the process of buying tickets for his wedding and that he save a lot buying 20 than if he had just bought one. Team Save’s mantra is simply to buy as a group and save as a team. It is about experiencing new things in the city and although group buying has been around for a while it was social media that was the missing key to make it take off like a rocket because of the social and sharing nature that social media allows for.
With Groupon turning down Google’s $6 billion offer (via Mashable) it shows that what Groupon started was only the beginning of what was possible in this space. While few can beat the first mover advantage that Groupon has Team Save hopes to be one of their fast followers. Team Save partnered with Kijiji who reaches one in three Canadians to launch Kijiji deals with the Team Save technology and they are currently in 5 cities around the country and growing fast.
The future of social buying is the smartphone and location based services and you will know about what deals are around your immediate vicinity and in the future will be able to guy a deal right from your smartphone. Chris believes that group buying is going to go niche focusing on those narrow groups looking for specific things as the industry moves ahead.
Still to come is Wes Bos of Deal Page and Paul from Red Flag Deals.