Group Buying South AfricaGroup Buying is the latest craze to hit the Internet, the idea is simple and is in fact in use on a daily basis by large brick and mortar shops around the world and only in the last few months it is catching on online with the introduction of sites like Groupon.

Groupon recently turned down a deal of $6 billion from Google just showing how much the concept is worth, shortly after that Groupon acquired a stake in local group buying site Twangoo with aims on bringing the official Groupon brand to South Africa.

So how is the local group buying industry doing and are there place for more sites like these? Since the acquisition of Twangoo by Groupon, local group buying sites have been popping up like crazy. A quick count revealed more than eight group buying sites operating in South Africa and that is just the few I know about.

Who is offering group buying in South Africa? (UPDATED 2012/01/18)

- Twangoo (Groupon My City Deal)
- Ubuntudeal
- Dealio (Closed Down)
- 24 Hours Only
- OneDayOnly
- WiCount
- SaleWine
- Groupon My City Deal
- CollectiveCow
- Skoop
- VuvuPlaza
- Justenga (Closed Down)
- Zappon (Closed Down)
- UCit
- Bangoo (Closed Down)
- CitySlicker
- Dealson
- Dealzela
- GarethCliffDeals.com
- SA Coupons
- CityMob
- 247 Deals
- Food Deals
- Dealison
- Daddy’s Deals
- YouDeal
- Dealify (Closed Down)
- SouthAfricaDailyDeals (Closed Down)
- Buy With Us
- Sugar-Rush
- alldeals (Aggregator)
- Today’s Deals (Aggregator)
- Deal Checker (Aggregator)
- DealSpade (Aggregator)
- Yadda (Aggregator)
- Deal Africa (Aggregator)
- DealTracker (Aggregator)
- DealZone (Aggregator)
- DealScout (Aggregator)
- myDailyDeal (Aggregator)
- Zambu (Aggregator)

These are just a few local group buying sites that I know about that claims to offer up to 90% discount on various products or services like Electronics, Wine, Household Appliances to the normal group buying offers such as Spa Treatments and Dinners. In addition to these sites there are literally new group buying sites popping up each week making this a very competitive market.

But all has not been sunshine and roses in the local group buying market, a while back WiCount made a slip up and accidentally released the names and email address of their customers through a flaw in their system, this also uncovered that WiCount was buying vouchers themselves to spur on sales, but they soon responded saying that this is how they treat deposits of people not ordering through the website.

Another alleged discrepancy was picked up yesterday by Blogger Chris Mills from iMod claiming that group buying site Twangoo is showing discount on their products but in fact a simple google search revealed that the product in question was also being sold by original company at the exact same price. Twangoo has since responded that they have contacted the company and will meet with them and provide feedback but they can assure us that it is not their intention to hoodwink their members or artificially inflate prices to create the illusion of a larger discount.

I guess in a competitive market such as Group Buying we are sure to see the odd chancer here and there trying to make a quick buck, just be cautious, its always good to do some investigation before buying online.

I have checked out these site and most of the deals I had a look at was ligit, what is your favorite group buying site in South Africa?