Deals & Coupons sites have been creating buzz over past 12 to 18 months – Thanks to Groupon’s (rumoured) Billion Dollar valuation, there has been a sudden surge in deals, discounts & group buying sites across the web. In last 2 months alone, I have heard over 5 new similar sites coming up in India alone (and there are many which I have not heard of..).
There are close to about 20 sites which are currently operational in India and probably equal number are coming up in next few months – This space looks completely jam packed.
Sites like Snapdeal.com, who came in early in this space have cashed in on their first mover advantage. With most sites spending hugely on advertising & marketing even consumers are flocking them in good numbers. According to recent report released by Comscore, close to 10% of all internet users have visited deal sites in month of June 2011, and the numbers are growing.
According to the report, 4.6 million Internet users in India aged 15 and older accessed the Coupons category from a home or work computer, reaching 10.4 percent of the entire online population. SnapDeal.com, which has tripled its audience in the past year, led the category with 1.5 million visitors during the month, followed by Dealsandyou.com with 990,000 visitors and MyDala.com with 952,000 visitors.
Indian Deal Sites Market Share (June 2011)
Indian Deal Sites Unique Visitors (June 2011)
Deal Site User Demographics
Male users dominate the deal site userbase – 61.8 percent visitors are males compared to 38.2 percent females. Visitors between the ages of 25-34 accounted for the largest percentage of the Coupon category audience at 43 percent and were 5 percent more likely to access a coupon site compared to an average Internet user!