You may have heard of the company Groupon in the news lately? Or perhaps have heard about this thing about group buying and how companies in America and overseas are really leveraging it to increase sales and marketing visibility.

But what realy is Group Buying? & How can it help your business?

Group Buying means that consumer products and services are offered to you at a highly discounted price. The catch? Well a minimum number of like minded buyers must be met in order for that company to offer it to you. Businesses like Groupon which currently is the industry leader in American and in many other countries typically offer a deal of the day on their internet site. Potential buyers like me and you log on and express an interest in buying that product. Once a preset minimum number or people that have expressed their interest is met you then have the opportunity of printing off a coupon to claim your discount or prize.

Its actually quite fun and interactive for the bargain hunter. Whilst for buinesses it offers the amazing flexibility in knowing that your marketing campaign or your sale will attract a minimum number of customers. Hence it gives you an amazing forecasting tool for you to use in:

1) Testing new product or service launch
2) Knowing Your Sale or offer will attract buyers with resonable certainty
3) Marketing to a wide audience at a fraction of the cost
4) Inventory forecasting in advance for your goods
5) Tracking marketing success or failure
6) A viable low cost advertising alternative
7) A great way to generate buzz about you & creates genuine word of mouth over the internet

The advantages for a business with this type of marketing is HUGE. Groupon is the undisputed leader and it famously turned down a $6billion takeover from Google. Today Groupon is launching in Australia under the website www.stardeals.com.au (it lost a trademark dispute with an existing Aussie based company) whilst there are an array of existing group buy sites like cudo.com & Spreets amongst others. At the end of last year the total Australian sales made through such websites hit $63million. A respectable number however this year it is anticpated to grow by 284% to $242million. If you are a company operating in retail this represents a huge marketing opportunity that simply cant be missed!! (I'll be jumping on to one right now to see what bargains I can snare :))