UPDATE: SCMP reveals group buying plans

SCMP   GROUP BUYING   DIGITAL

Hong Kong - The South China Morning Post has revealed its group buying platform will be called RedeeME, targeting what it called "discerning and upscale" tastes of its readership profile.

The SCMP will offer a group buying service from early January next year under a partnership with emerging group buying platform Dealised.

The site will officially launch on Wednesday 4 January 2012.

In a statement the publishing group said "RedeeME leverages the growing trend of online group buying discounts and hones in on the more affluent segment of the community, who have different tastes and consumption patterns."

Group buying in Hong Kong has been estimated at generating between US$60 and US$ 70 million in revenue a year and SCMP is aiming to grab a slice.

RedeeME will be promoted with the advertising campaign premise of "Live the high life at a reduced price".

Handpicked, premium merchants will be featured in the site, and the unique, limited-time offers will have a focus on quality, experience and value.

Dealised will be responsible for providing the platform, managing it, sourcing and publishing deals, as well as email and mobile delivery, payment and transaction.

Currently with a team of 10 in Hong Kong, it hopes to provide a deal a day, in addition to deals sourced from SCMP's own sales from different sectors such as retail, F&B, hospitality brands, and higher end products.

"We will leverage the SCMP's existing customer base to take the brand digitally onto the group-buying scene," Jonathan Marchbank, CEO of Dealised, told Marketing.

"Utilising the trust the brand has built in Hong Kong, in addition to its print and digital assets will help drive traffic to the site to stand out from brands such as LivingSocial and Groupon."

In further moves, Dealised has acquired Lokaly Network Limited, owner of group-buying services platform Lokaly and of consumer group-buying site ValuUp.

With this deal, Dealised now said it now has a strong position in a fast growing group buying market, which in Hong Kong it is valued at US$60 million and growing.

It plans to target Hong Kong and Taiwan markets and said there are no plans to enter China.

Marchbank said the China market is "saturated" with hundreds of group-buying sites which aren't sustainable. "We see massive fall out happening already," he said. 

Dealised was formed in 2009 to power Australian deals site Spreets, which was later acquired by Yahoo7 for US$43 million last year.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Follow @MarketingEds on Twitter for breaking news throughout the day.

Have something to say? Comment on our Facebook page or contact the writer at oliverl@marketing-interactive.com.