Trend for coupon sites growing in India

(2010 Jasper | All rights reserved)

Ten percent of India's online population accessed coupon sites in June, representing a growing trend in the market according to a report released July 29 by online analysts comScore.

The report from comScore's Media Metrix service found that 4.6 million internet users in India, equivalent to ten percent of the country's online population, accessed coupon sites in the month of June.

Of these sites, Snapdeal.com was the most popular with around 1.5 million unique visitors, followed by Dealandyou.com and Mydala.com both of which received close to a million unique visitors.

Kedar Gavane, director of comScore India, notes that "In the past several months, deal sites have seen their audiences increase significantly as the global online coupon trend has taken root."  

This growing trend in e-commerce has, according to comScore, allowed June's market leader Snapdeal.com to treble its audience figures since last year.

Snapdeal and other such coupon sites work on a slightly different basis than Groupon which requires a certain number of people to purchase a deal before it becomes valid.

Rather, users of Snapdeal receive a daily deal, or discount, on products or services in their city which they can then choose to purchase for a small specified amount; once the deal has been purchased the buyer receives an email coupon which can then be printed out and redeemed at the retailer where the coupon holder pays the remaining amount for the service or product.

Though the site lacks a 'group buying' element, it does provide customers with sharable links for use on social networks; those customers who direct traffic to the site are rewarded with what the company terms 'special deals .'

The trend for coupon sites is also booming in China's developing e-commerce market and more mature markets such as the US where digital research company Emarketer estimates that half of all online adults will have used an online coupon or discount code before the end of 2011.