Group Buy Clean-Up Grows, E-Commerce Next 团购行业洗牌加剧，下一个是电子商务
Growing signs are emerging that the much-needed clean-up of the overheated group buying space is well underway, with domestic media reporting a massive closure of websites in January alone, as the stalled IPO for industry leader LaShou remains nowhere to be seen. According to the domestic reports, some 117 group buying sites shut down in January, although the space still remains crowded with nearly 3,800 players still in operation. (Chinese article) Reflecting the cutthroat competition that still remains, other media reports are saying the government regulator has stepped in and limited the size of discounts on movie tickets, in the latest of a string of such moves that look designed to cool down the sector, despite cries of protest from group buying sites themselves. (English article) The latest wave of closures at mostly smaller sites follows a string of layoffs at much larger names like Gaopeng, the joint venture between global leader Groupon (Nasdq: GRPN) and Tencent (HKEx: 700), and Groupon.cn, which is unrelated to the US company. But perhaps the biggest sign of trouble has come from sector leader LaShou, which, like most other players in the space, was reportedly bleeding cash when it filed for a New York IPO last year, only to see the offering indefinitely delayed when regulators reportedly questioned some of the company’s accounting methods and asked for more information. (previous post) A couple of Chinese Internet companies have filed for New York IPOs already this year (previous post), but LaShou’s offering seems to have completely disappeared, with no news on what’s happening since the first reports of trouble first emerged in November. Rival 55tuan has also said it is going ahead with its own planned IPO, but I would be surprised to see that offering go forward until the second half of the year at earliest, if at all. Meantime, the big questions are: who will be the first big victim in the space to close shop; and who is next? In answer to the first question, the situations at Groupon.cn and Gaopeng both sound quite dire, based on the media reports, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see one of them become the first big victim of the cleanup. For the second question, the next big space in big need of a cleanup is clearly e-commerce, where competition has also grown rampant over the last year and most players are reportedly bleeding cash. Dangdang (NYSE: DANG), one top player, reported a large and widening quarterly loss last week (previous post), and news reports regularly appear about the latest company to lay off employees and close shop. Look for the e-commerce cleanup to accelerate in the year ahead, with more layoffs and the closure of one or more larger players likely as well.
Bottom line: The cleanup of the online group buying sector is picking up pace and should peak around mid-year, with e-commerce following close behind.
Related postings 相关文章:
◙ Groupon.cn Becomes 2012 First Group Buy Victim 团宝网员工被放假 中国团购业料将加速整合
◙ Group Buying Turmoil Grows With 55tuan Layoffs 窝窝团撤站裁员 团购业整合在即
