Collective purchases: companies offer attractive discounts and facilitate consumption

Cast the first stone (or stop reading this text) who didn’t buy one discount coupon in products and services around 2010.

At that time, the phenomenon of coletive shopping through websites was on the rise and, myself, I got tired of acquiring “experiences” in restaurants and providers of the most diverse services, from car washes to barbers.

Unfortunately, just two years after the initial movement, there was a lack of confidence in the market, whose reasons – which I assume – I will mention below, such as the deactivation of some sites and the reduction of staff.

After 12 years, with the arrival of smartphones and chats and the wide reach in the population, we have seen a new group shopping modality which in my opinion works perfectly for food and drinks as it corrects some mistakes that were made during the craze of a decade ago.

And what would be the difference between the collective purchase of the past and the current group purchase?

past x present

First, while the Collective Buying aimed at the acquisition by the customer of a particular dish in a restaurant or service, at prices with aggressive discounts of 50% to 70% – which generated an overload to the establishment, as there was still a fee charged by the sites, which reached 40 % and 50% -, the group purchase works with smaller discounts, however, without harming suppliers .

In collective purchases, the main objective was to bring to the establishment as many customers as possible, while the current group purchases work with the consolidation of a minimum number of units to be sold generating predictability for the producer and an order scale that he would probably not reach on his own.

More than that, group purchases generally seek the same customer profile and, often, an agglutination in a given region.

And what is the direct benefit of that? THE facilitation of logistics for the supplier and the cost decrease (or even freight exemption) for the customer, which can create a customer dependence on that product and generate the recurrence so desired by suppliers.

It is from this differentiation, therefore, that I assume the reason why the old collective buying sites did not succeed as they wished in Brazil.

By providing several discount coupon offers from different establishments, customers were not attractive enough to make a recurring purchase and return.

This movement created internal competition between suppliers of the same product (for example, several pizzerias located in the same neighborhood) for customers and potential customers.

In the new modality of group purchases, platforms have made occasional and periodic offers available from only one supplier of a given product, thus eliminating the possibility of internal competition.

Shopping without intermediaries

A company that has been working with this innovation is Leash founded in Minas Gerais and with a strong presence in Belo Horizonte and Sao Paulowhich was born out of the need for a luxury condominium in Nova Lima (MG) to centralize purchases of products that were of interest to many tenants.

Trela’s objective is to provide consumers with products, mainly food, at a fair price, in addition to facilitating the purchase of items that are not easily found in large markets.

The curious thing was Trela’s option to maintain communication with and between its customers not only on one platform, but also and mainly by WhatsApp, which increases user engagement with each order, with product reviews in real time, including.

Through WhatsApp, product offers are often made available, with discounts and free shipping, to users of a certain condominium or neighborhood, and the purchase occurs only if a minimum quantity stipulated by the company and the supplier is reached.

Another option in Brazil is the easily which also does not work with intermediaries – apparently, however, it needs product withdrawal points.

This generates an improvement in the main factors that discourage the purchase, such as freight and delivery mesh, but it can generate a feeling of insecurity for customers who will not receive the products at home.

Outside Brazil, specifically in China, the pinduoduo has followed a similar logic in terms of the absence of intermediaries to make the chain cheaper. Launched around 2014 and with gradual growth since then, the platform presents itself as a success case serving around 700 million Chinese a year.

In conclusion, the resurgence of group purchases of products resulting from the pandemic generates a direct relationship between the end customer and the supplier.

This provides benefits to customers, such as loyalty relationship , discount prices and easy shipping or even free, as group purchases make the chain more efficient in terms of delivery, speed and discounts.

About Fred Sabbag

Fred Sabbag is a lawyer by profession, but in his free time, he doesn’t have any lawsuits or legal procedures: one of his biggest passions is going to bars and restaurants. The habit earned him numerous followers on Instagram (@fredsabbag) and made him an important character of gastronomy in São Paulo.

*Texts published by insiders do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the CNN Travel & Gastronomy .