(Updated November 14, 2010)
2010 is an exciting Groupon year for Manila! Groupon is a shortcut for “Group Coupons”, which are typically wholesale bargain deals offered online, leveraging the power of social media.
These “Groupon clone” sites would typically negotiate a deal with a lifestyle product or service partner (minimum of 50% but as high as 90% off). Usually, there is a minimum number for the deal to be “ON” and the deal is for a limited time, typically one day to a week. The sites earn by getting a profit sharing with the supplier, depending on the amount of the deal.
Starting August, we saw Groupon sites launched one after another, which makes online bargain hunting more exciting! Here are the 12 contenders (including our own Awesome.PH site):
Buyanihan was the first site to launch in August. I wouldn’t call it a pioneer because it just pre-empted Cash Cash Pinoy by a few weeks. It has the biggest number of Facebook Fans with 12,964+ fans. The deals there typically last for days, and the people behind it seem to be working very hard to get good deals.
Cash Cash Pinoy is currently the leading groupon site in Manila because it is backed by Enjoy Philippines and Netbooster Asia.
It was launched after the ghost month in early September. It never fails to impress me with the kind of innovative deals it has been launching. The most successful one to date is the Sofitel 1,150 Spiral Buffet deal with 1,670 buyers!
One good thing about Cash Cash Pinoy is it doesn’t have a minimum number for the deals to get activated. So it is more of a deal/bargain site really, like Enjoy.
Ensogo Philippines is a Thailand-based groupon site, which was launched right after Cash Cash Pinoy. It has well thought-out deals that generate the most buyers.
The secret? It was the first to offer bank deposits versus the earlier sites that only offered payment via Paypal and Credit Card. (Eventually, Cash Cash Pinoy offered bank deposits also.) I’m amazed by how viral their deals are — very good value and tons of buyers. Great job!
Twangoo is a Hong-Kong based Groupon site, which promises the best deals in town, at an irresistible price, and with great service. 🙂 Most of the regionally-based groupon sites want to expand to more sites in Asia in the hope that the real Groupon will buy them.
We just launched the Awesome! site with a 92% off deal. 🙂 Awesome! is a collaboration of 3 of the most trusted online brands: Our Awesome Planet, Boy Kuripot and Top Blogs.com.ph.
We would like to offer our readers, fans and friends — Awesome Experiences @ Awesome Value! In the process, we promote the most awesome lifestyle partners in Manila. We would like to have fun, and the competition in this space makes online group buying very exciting!
Local Roam is gearing up to launch, and this is from the people behind the free City Guide. My friend Mike Alimurung was the pioneer in offering these small, free, ad-based magazines. Now, they are launching their own daily deals site. Good luck, Mike, on your first deal! 🙂
eTreet.com is the cutest lifestyle deal site. It is just in pre-launch, accumulating emails before it can launch its first treat. It looks really promising.
Beeconomic, a Singapore-based groupon site, is creating a buzz in Facebook lately. We are waiting for them to launch. 🙂
Presyong Patok is a local groupon site, but there’s no information about the 98 labs people behind it.
Deal Grocer is a Singapore-based groupon site that is launching in Manila. The site is still in closed beta. We are waiting for it to launch soon before the holiday season.
Groupie.PH? Nice name but I don’t know the people behind it.
DealSpot.PH? Another groupon site?
So, who do you think will win the Battle of Groupon Sites in Manila?
Actually, the real winners are the online consumers, who are looking for the best deals at 50-90% off from these online sites! We welcome more of these groupon sites so that suppliers and consumers would have more deals and options that are bound to just get more awesome each day!
Live an Awesome Life,
Founder, www.OurAwesomePlanet.com
Call or Text Me: +63917 5683-627 (LOVE-OAP)
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Disclosure: Our Awesome Planet is a part-owner of Awesome.PH.
P.S. Let me know if I missed any groupon site out there. Also, let me know if you want to add some more information for this post. Bring on the Groupon sites in Manila! When will the real Groupon open in Manila kaya?
Thanks A lot Anton! Hope that this is the real start of the eCommerce industry in Philippines! CashCashPinoy Team!
wow this is the first time i’ve heard of groupons 🙂
i think it’s kind of exciting because you never know what deals are coming up.when you see one that you’ve been waiting for, it’s a thrill to race to buy it then brag afterward that you got it on el cheapo rates. hehe
Thank you for featuring CashCashPinoy! Would like to add 2 more sites to your list:
twangoo.com – based out of Hong Kong
beeconomic – Singapore based, they’ve created a lot of buzz on Facebook but still waiting for them to launch.
The prevailing thought among analysts for some of the regional “groupon” sites is to open in as many territories as possible then hopefully sell out to Groupon since Groupon doesn’t have an Asian presence.
You’re right about the real winners – Filipino consumers!
More power to you, and best of luck to Awesome.ph!
hi, just wanna ask how can i increase the number of posts displayed per page for this website? currently it’s showing only three per page.
TIA!
ang dami!
Wow how come I never knew these sites existed?! Where have I been? Hahaha, thanks, Anton! I just bought a coupon from Bubble Tea (super addicted to their Royal Milk Tea)! Excited!
you missed twangoo.com
That is true 🙂 it is starting to blossom in the Philippines. Next year would be an eCommerce year for Manila!
Thanks Alfie for adding them 🙂 So in total, we have 9 players in this space… galing! galing! I’m sure there will be more to come, haha
Galing ng Cash Cash Pinoy 🙂 Great job Alfie 🙂
Hi Ton,
Sige I will increase it. It is a default setting for the blog. How many do you want to increase it to? I’ll increase it to 5 per page muna.
Anton
OO Nga! I added Twangoo already…
I already tried and bought offers from Twangoo, Ensogo and CashCashpinoy. Very good deals indeed.
Wow this is cool! I just bought 2 coupons for Bubble Tea as well =)
Funny I was just thinking of doing a blog post on the groupon clones because of their sudden onslaught. First heard of CashCashPinoy when I called Spiral, the others via Facebook ads. Good post!
Hot dang! I didn’t know there were that many group buying websites already! It’ll be interesting to see how each site can differentiate themselves and really create a trusted brand. But yes, I completely agree that the consumers are the biggest winners for this. They’ll be getting crazy deals left and right!
Thanks for sharing Anton! =)
Thanks for sharing Anton. I wish i found out about these sites earlier. These are great and the offers are very good. The first one i saw was awesome.ph. Stupid of me not to realize that it was connected to OAP. Haha! I only found out when I saw it at the UTT 5.0 last night. Congrats Anton! I really enjoyed UTT 5.0. More power.:)
Thanks Anton for this very insightful read on Philippine group buying sites! It will be indeed a very exciting year ahead for all Filipino online consumers as we (group buying sites) strive hard to give the best deals, support local businesses and social causes, one great deal at a time. All the best to Philippine social commerce! 🙂
Whatta coincidence, Anton! I didn’t see you posted about this yesterday, so I posted mine today, with just 5 sites! I didn’t know there are 10 na pala! Nice! Might have to update my list. Thanks for sharing!
Haha Oo nga! what a coincidence Glenn 🙂 nice writeup too!
Ive tried Ensogo and CashCashPinoy. I did encounter a minor problem with CashCash but good thing it was quickly resolved! As soon as i saw this, i immediately signed up for the other sites. Are any other payment options for Awesome currently in the works? Kus i dont have a credit card. 🙂
Awesome! is going to have bank payment options for those without credit cards or PayPal 🙂
I’m so glad I learned of your blog. I so love great deals like these! Ang dami pa lang ganito na sites that give great deals. Your blog is really nice! Will keep coming back here 🙂
Thanks for the list Anton! I’m still hesitant to use my CC to buy coupons from these sites. Good thing some accepts Paypal. I hope more payment options will be added like Gcash and Smartmoney.
Thanks for the post! Didn’t realize there were that many players already when there were none 4 months ago. Agree that consumers are the biggest winners here.
Unfortunately for most of these sites, I think the online commerce market in PH is still relatively small to accommodate several sites doing essentially the same thing– sales teams will be competing for the same retailers/establishments + I think larger local brands can actually do “groupons” on their own as a promo. I think it’s a business that’s easy to start but tough to grow. The winner will be the one with the largest capital or the one who can find a point of differentiation that’s not easily copied by anyone else. Personally, my money is on CCP because of their offline/Enjoy network. But it’ll be an interesting space to watch…
Thanks Trish for following OAP!
YEs, Paypal actually is the most secure and safest option.
On Payment options, yes we are going into bank payments also….
Yes, I agree the CCP will win as the top groupon site because of the Enjoy network.
We also would be starting to differentiate very soon on offering deals that nobody could offer 🙂
Thanks for compiling all of these groupon clones! i never knew about them till now!
http://www.indieescape.com
you're welcome, Kim!
Awesome! 🙂 Look forward to it.
that’s great news!
hi anton,
i chanced on this article on groupons and thought i’d share it with you.
http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/technology/article/are-groupon-stores-and-do-it-yourself-deals-worth-the-risk-jennifer-van-grove
Thanks for including Ensogo Philippines in your list very good reviews and unbiased. We really appreciate it. I must say that Year 2011 will be the Groupon Battle in Manila! Ensogo Today’s Deal is the best!
I was able to try Ensogo Philippines and i must say they are excellent.
this is really great!! go groupons..
I’ve already bought from Ensogo twice and they have yet to disappoint! I loved how it was so convenient to pay for my coupons. I just joined Awesome.ph and I’m waiting for a deal that would catch my fancy. I’ll be joining the other sites too thanks to you, Anton! This was a really helpful post as usual.
I heard Groupie.ph another player thats launching very soon.
Another group buying site starting soon – http://www.dealspot.ph
orayt! thanks a lot!
yes that’s true.
DealSpot.ph is surely will give all your favorites every week starting this November. So, watch out for it.
Hi Anton,
Thanks for featuring our website here at “Our Awesome Planet”.
short info for DealSPOT Philippines – The latest trend to grip the Internet is ‘Group Buying’. Though the concept of group buying has existed for a long time, it has just found a new platform- the Internet. And there are new ideas being floated and one of the best example is DealSPOT Philippines
DealSPOT Philippines offers you an array of things to do, see, taste and experience from prime spots in the Philippines in the lowest price possible. Capitalizing the power of collective buying, we make buying pleasurable.
How dealspot works?
http://collectibleads.blogspot.com/2010/10/latest-group-buying-in-philippines.html
yes nicole you’re right.
There are also websites which gather all the deals in one page and by redirecting increase group buying website trafic.
Thedealmap.com in the U.S and dailydealshunter.com in Asia.
Great article by the way 🙂
M.
Hi Anton,
You should include myshopmates.com also, they are launching very soon.
Thanks
please also include http://www.couppie.com they already started =D
ebay.ph also launched their own daily deals recently
Thank you so much for featuring our site here.
ETREET has launched and our first deal is P400 for P1000 worth of Flavorful Fare at CHELSEA MARKET & CAFE Serendra & Podium).
Etreet is committed to bringing the most amazing discounts from merchants everyone is sure to love.
Please visit our site to learn more. We look forward to sharing the Etreet experience with you!
http://www.etreet.com
Nice! I have created a link back to this post for my post:
http://ruthilicious.blogspot.com/2010/12/ebay-kuponan-joining-battle-with_07.html
hi anton!
is awesome deal still a go? the other groupons have been posting great deals almost every other day. sayang naman. but thank you for blogging about the groupons 🙂
hi sir anton!
add ko lang po ung ebay kuponan.. magaganda din deals nila dun! =)
GROUPON PHILIPPINES has actually already launched here in Manila. They bought Beeconomic it looks like. They’ve already changed their Facebook, I guess it’s only a matter of time until they change their main site. Woo hoo!!!
two new group buying sites this 2011:
PAKYAW – http://pakyaw.com.ph/welcome/home.php?i=0&u=641bb636ce7a9f883a813d8b6bccae6a7058b362
Metrodeal – http://tinyurl.com/4fu4e6n
http://whatsnewinmanila.blogspot.com/2011/01/group-buying-craze-in-manila-updated.html
I find it disturbing that all the sites seem to be mimicking each other’s deals. Today, Buyanihan, Ensogo & Cash Cash Pinoy are ALL featuring underarm peels / whitening. What’s the deal folks?? Give us some variety. You don’t have to copy each other’s deals, go find your own niche.
“So, who do you think will win the Battle of Groupon Sites in Manila?”
Besides the consumers, the strongest right now is probably Cash Cash Pinoy. It has quality offers & an attractive layout.
However, Deal Grocer is showing definite potential by aiming for an upscale clean look & feel, and targeting high-end premium offers at mass prices. This has the strongest appeal to the average Pinoy groupon user. Deal Grocer just has to improve on the quantity of its offers. It has few updates & is quite slow in new offers compared to the others.
The others are just badly designed — Buyanihan’s layout is really cluttered. Twangoo is difficult to navigate. Ensogo uses low-res JPEGs for its deals so pixelated shots don’t look as enticing and the overall feel I get for Ensogo is ‘cheap’. Beeconomics tries to be cute but its layout is just so hard to navigate & all the elements are so distracting. The font is also so small (and orange!) & isn’t even readable. I actually found it strange that Groupon chose this site! The other sites that require you to enter your email address before showing their deals are just plain bad. It’s such a spam-like move. No one wants to join some mailing list without seeing what you’re offering first, and especially if you’re a first-time site with no awareness & credibility, no one’s going to trust you to keep their email addresses secure.
Furthermore, most of the offers on the above sites are so generic & not even popular brands or products that it defeats the purpose of generating that excitement of getting a discount.
For the Awesome groupon site Anton, it shows potential because the offers are really special (Crocs Pinoy) & limited-edition. However updates are slow & until now the Crocs deal is still up despite it being ‘time finished’ already. With your network contacts among restaurants & brands, you have the strongest opportunity to wrangle the best deals & offers compared to all these other sites. Also combined with your skill in writing about a particular new product/restaurant that entices us, adding a groupon offer at the end to incite trial guarantees success– for you & for these brands. Good luck with Awesome site, I hope you’re able to improve it!
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
and now, Google is planning to join the groupon battle http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/google-offers-groupon/
There’s another one on its way. http://www.filodeals.com
It could be that the merchant contacted these groupons and offered the same deals.. so most of the groupons are selling the deal. It’s business, and it works for all naman 🙂
for me twangoo.com/manila rocks. I love their deals. Especially their deals for this valentines. 66% off on Salon de San Lorenzo for their Hair & Make-up with Mani and Pedi.. Perfect gift for my girlfriend…
Hello there everyone! Very nice post indeed Anton. Though I think you have to update this post again. ‘Coz a big player is coming through. TipidTo is throwing a 3 days, 4 nights trip to Kongkong and Macau for their launch alone. I haven’t seen any group buying sites that gave that kind of promo yet. Am excited what the other players are going to do next…
Thanks!!!
Hey, I signed up recently for awesome.ph… now funny thing, the email I registered suddenly was sending out spam. I don’t know if it is your site that is responsible. But just letting you know.
Thanks Noel for the feedback. I'm sure it is not related but we will triple check on our end.
Hi everyone!
We are now featuring Salon de San Lorenzo’s Deal which is 86% off on Hair Rebond with Haircut and Shampoo and Blowdry for only Php999.00 instead of Php7,200 and you will save Php6,201.00
Great Deal isn’t?
Check it out http://www.twangoo.com
Thanks,
http://www.twangoo.com
hi anton,
here’s another new player: http://www.cleverbuy.com.ph/recent-deals
they’re so new, they so far have 4 deals only.
Hi Anton, I just want to ask why your list is not updated?
i just want to share my experience with Twangoo.com, I love their customer service, they respond to my questions and concerns very fast,.. and especially, I really love their Deals!! hehehe.. I always bought multiple Vouchers from them… TRied and Tested… Twangoo.com Rockz!
I decided not to update this list because this blog posts captured that point in time re: the first groupon sites in Manila. Will do a separate post on all the sites… ang dami na nila.
Anton
Hi Anton!
If ever you do a new post about group buying websites, please include Nakamuraka.com. We’ll be up and running this month of April.
Check us out for more killer bargains!
Thanks!
Nakamuraka.com Team
Yes I'm doing a complete post on it separately. This post aims to document history on the first players in this space.
Thanks for letting me know.
Please check us out at http://500pesodeals.com and tell us what you think.
We’re launching on May 13 and currently have ongoing promos on Facebook, including an iPad 2 raffle. We hope to see you there!
Allo everyone!
Live inspired; experience your city anew.
We’re Filodeals, a boutique group buying site, and we will be arriving in Manila soon.
Do drop by our website http://www.filodeals.com and facebook page http://www.facebook.com/filodeals.
Thanks! 🙂
Group Buying and viral expansion: http://youtu.be/5jFbhu9qc_4
All Daily deals at Everything in Budget
http://everythinginbudget.blogspot.com/
Thanks!!
I think you missed http://www.sulitkeni.com, although it is largely based in Pampanga.
Hey Anton, also please include, http://www.sulitkeni.com, it is Pampanga-based.
Hey Anton, please also include http://www.sulitkeni.com, it is a Pampanga-based group buying site. Thanks.
wow, this is cool, didn’t know we had this.
another group buying site soon to launch
http://dealsandsteals.com.ph/deal/all
Another new buying and selling site
Anunsyo.com.ph – Buy and Sell in The Philippines
I’m surprised Metrodeal isn’t included in the list. You may try to read on Metrodeal.com Reviews for you to learn other people’s experience using Metrodeal.