Local members of a Shanghai-based online group shopping website saved about 800 million yuan ($126.8 million) last year from resorting to the increasingly popular way to buy goods via the Internet, said a new survey released by the site Tuesday.
Roughly 5 million purchases were made last year, nearly seven times that of the previous year, said the report by dianping.com.
Dianping.com, which landed a spot near the bottom of the nation's top 10 list of the most frequented online group shopping sites last year, said that its members spent a total of about 400 million yuan last year, an exponential 700-percent rise from 2010.
Bread and baked goods coupons proved most popular last year, accounting for more than 20 percent of the purchases made, while entertainment-related discounts were the next most highly sought after items, said the report.
More competitive prices offered by vendors and retailers encouraged more people to choose the increasingly popular purchase method, said Long Wei, vice president of dianping.com.
"A number of companies have recognized great potential in the online group shopping market since the trend started taking off in China a little while back in 2010," he told the Global Times Tuesday. "They have targeted suitable customers in the past year and the work has proven to have payoffs."
Long added that he was confident the practice would become even more popular, saying that demand for online group shopping deals should continue strong this year.
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