The Groupon Battle in 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 :

 

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.