Asia’s daily deals industry jumps the shark, but could see Rocky Balboa moment

A customer at a Groupon Singapore concept store. Photo: Groupon

In Asia, the daily deals industry is apparently in the doldrums. In an analysis done by Groupon Singapore, only 19 group buying companies now remain, down from a peak of 72 in 2010 and 39 in 2011. 84% of these companies lasted less than a year.

SGE has even covered the demise of a couple of these websites: Outlet.com.sg and Mocca Perks.

The downward spiral in Singapore dovetails with the predominant trend in Asia and the world: Group buying sites are shutting down en masse. In the second half of 2011 alone, Daily Deals Media reported that 1,348 such companies have gone under. While some group buying sites have been acquired, they are in the minority.

Groupon’s share price, meanwhile, has tumbled to USD 5.25 per share on 6 October from a high of USD 31, despite a profitable quarter. Another American daily deals company, JigoCity (acquired by the owner of porn magazine Penthouse), is also finding the waters choppy in Asia: It recently left Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Australia.

But just like how the movie Rocky Balboa became a surprise hit in the face of doubts in 2006 — 16 years after the disappointing last film — Asia’s daily deals sites are reinventing themselves to stay in the fight. Read more

World’s first Groupon retail shop to launch in Singapore

Groupon has today announced the official launch of the world’s first and only Groupon Shop, which will happen on 4th July.

The store had actually opened its doors on 30th April, according to ZDNet. It consists of three terminals where visitors can buy and redeem coupons on-the-spot.

Karl Chong, CEO of Groupon Singapore, told ZDNet that the objective of the opening ”was to make it more convenient for Groupon customers to redeem their products.” Read more

Are the Samwer Brothers, a.k.a Rocket Internet really that bad for Southeast Asia?

Many months back, I tweeted about the entrance of Rocket Internet in Southeast Asia with the comment, “Winter is coming.” Not long after, they have gotten off the ground running with an aggressive hiring spree and clones in the e-commerce space.

Rocket Internet is a company that belongs to the Samwer Brothers. They are known for their amazing execution prowess and their ruthlessness in cloning successful US Internet companies. Of course, their tactics and methods have raised the ire of many, including pro-Silicon Valley reporters such as Sarah Lacy who mounted a campaign against them.

But is the company’s impact on the Southeast Asia digital market all bad? I’ll examine this issue in detail and argue that while it may have some impact on innovation, it isn’t bad for the industry as a whole. Read more

Latest: NTUC Link buys S’pore daily deals site BigDeal.sg

So you think the daily deals phenomena is way overhyped and unsustainable. Then be prepared to get mad at this: NTUC Link announced on Thursday that it has acquired BigDeal.sg for an undisclosed sum, which makes it the second Singapore daily deals site to be bought over. Read more

China Digest – 31 Jul

Here you can find some interesting startup news from China, not only in its capital, Beijing, but also other startup hubs such as Shanghai, Hong Kong, Hangzhou, and many more. Read more

Deal.com.sg releases iPhone app

Deal.com.sg, a Singapore-based daily deals website which rivals Groupon Singapore in sales revenue, has just launched its own iPhone app today in an arms race to compete with its muscular competitor (see SGE’s stories on the Singapore scene). Read more

AllDealsLeak: 80% of daily deals sites earned more revenue in June

This article is an excerpt from AllDealsLeak’s Lite Report for June. The report is the only publication of its kind that monitors the state of daily deals websites in Singapore. The AllDealsLeak website also reviews some of the deals on offer to see if they’re worth purchasing.

Revenue:

For the month of June, the total number of deal sites monitored has increased from 36 to 39. Not counting a total of 5 inactive sites, the total revenues for June were derived from the 34 active deal sites we have on hand. The revenue has also increased from S$7.1 million to S$7.8 million as seen from our previous page. However, the correlation between the increase in the number of deals this month with the increase with the revenues were not as strong as what ADL expected. Read more

Singapore’s top 30 business brands on Facebook

Today, Facebook is an essential tool in any marketer’s arsenal. Which is why we decided to feature a list of top 30 Facebook Pages by businesses. The brands in this continuously-updated list are ranked according to the number of ‘likes’ and must be either a) companies started in Singapore b) companies started by Singaporeans c) international brands with a Singapore Facebook Page. Read more

Japan Digest – 2 Jul

Here you can find interesting startup news from Japan, not only from its capital, Tokyo, but also other startup hubs like Fukuoka, Kyoto, Osaka, and many more. Read more

LivingSocial acquires three Asian daily deal companies

Groupon rival LivingSocial has acquired DealKeren, a daily deal site in Indonesia, Ensogo, which owns DealKeren and has a presence in the Phillipines and Thailand as well, and GoNabit, a daily deals site operating in five Middle Eastern countries, it announced in a press release on 27 June. Read more