The hottest and least understood e-commerce model: Community Group Buying

While this motivation may be latent—even subconscious, for most—in the U.S., it’s an economic driver that’s well understood in China, fueling a thriving video ecommerce market. In Asia, the powerful force of video entertainment shopping has spawned a livestream ecommerce industry akin to professional movie production. It’s more than a place where a... See more

The battle royal for China’s group-buying market was a microcosm of what China’s internet ecosystem had become: a coliseum where hundreds of copycat gladiators fought to the death. Amid the chaos and bloodshed, the foreign first-movers often proved irrelevant. It was the domestic combatants who pushed each other to be faster, nimbler, leaner, and m

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However, the one model that I am the most excited about is browsing e-commerce. Current leaders, Amazon, Alibaba or JD, are mostly search based — users know what they want, they search for it on the app, and find the product within the first scroll. Browsing e-commerce is a model where users come with the intent of having fun, much like going to a ... See more

Beyond simply marketing the the product, some companies, including Shihuituan (the Uber of convenience stores in China) have made local community leaders (their version of influencers) points of contact for logistics as well, which substantially lowers their own costs, creates more connectivity with their target communities, and shares more income ... See more