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In our ongoing Threesday feature, Shanghaiist takes the time to count out three of....well, whatever catches our fancy that week. This week, in the wake of Groupon's blow up, we present other English-language internet coupon deal sites!
So with its mega marketing fail during this year's Super Bowl, the chances of U.S.-based group buying platform Groupon actually entering the Chinese market now are pretty close to nil. But we coupon clippers need not mourn over their tremendous screw up! Even if Groupon had come in, they'd be facing a pretty saturated market - there are literally dozens of tuangou (团购) websites here in China.
Can't read Chinese? That's not a problem! Over the last year or two, quite a few English-language group buying sites have popped up specifically to help us expats get in on all the great deals. So without further adieu, here's three good ones (and an example of the deals they're offering):
Brought to us by the same guys doing the Enjoy Shanghai deal cards and amusing us with Enjoy Classifieds (not to mention helping us throw what's bound to be a great V-day bash), Enjoy Meitian has some consistently great deals across a whole variety of retail and dining possibilities.
For instance, today's featured deal is roses... just in time for Valentine's Day! You can buy a bouquet for 138RMB, which may be a good deal when it comes to these things? I don't know - I tend to do badly with plants of any kind.
But deals I would take advantage of though include a 158RMB set meal for two at Pepper's Steakhouse in Gubei and a 158RMB package (valued at 988RMB) for glamor shots at a Chinese photo studio - why yes, ridiculous costumes and fuzzy focus, get in my wallet now!
2. Wufantuan
Wufantuan mostly sticks to one thing - meals - but it does it quite well, consistently offering ridiculous amounts of food for thoroughly decent prices. For instance, today's deal gets you two mains, two pastas, two pizzas, two soups and two desserts for 168RMB. Unfortunately, only two people (and, I guess, a five-year-old) are allowed to sit at your table, making me wonder who exactly is taking on what sounds like a pretty punishing challenge of a meal. Maybe you're allowed to doggybag it?
Other feasts they've offered include one at Viva A Mexico for 108RMB, a Texas b.b.q. mess o' stuff at Bubba's for 148RMB and a whole bunch of lucky draws for things like spa vouchers and golf lessons and what not.
And of course, there's City Weekend's Flashbuy group-buying platform. While not as extensive in range as Enjoy's or as eye-popping as Wufantuan, Flashbuy still offers some very decent dollar-saving options. Right now, you can get a 60 minute Cellular Instant Radiance Facial and a 15 minute head and shoulder massage for just 99RMB. Apparently it usually costs up to 680RMB!
Other deals include 50% of at a whole bunch of restaurants Little Yunnan, Marriot's Tamarind Restaurant, Taste Hong Kong... and New York Donuts (that's 15 whole yuan off)! They're not afraid to think small.
So really, Groupon who? We'll wait for the "Tibetan" fish curry savings to pop up on these three sites instead.
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