AsiaOne Launches Daily Deals Syndication

The Singapore daily deal market is getting a little crowded.

As Penn Olson contributor, Keith Toh previously wrote, “For a small country like Singapore, it is surprising that we have 46 group buying websites with four already in the deadpool. The number of Groupon clones in Singapore is about twice the amount in Indonesia. It can’t be blamed: The astonishing revenue growth of group buying website compared to other traditional online businesses has attracted many to jump into the bandwagon.”

Instead of creating a brand new group-buying site, Singapore-based online news media, AsiaOne announced its partnership with Outlet.com.sg to syndicate its group-buy offers on its site. Leveraging on its wide readership base, AsiaOne, owned by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), hopes to monetize its traffic. The announcement didn’t state the business part of the partnership. But it is logical and safe to assume a revenue-sharing model between both companies.

The group-buying business is pretty well understood. Just in case you’re still confused about how it works, Outlet.com.sg has this nice video to explain things:

“We are very excited about this partnership. Outlet.com.sg hopes to reach out further to PMEBS [Professionals/Managers/Executives/Businessmen] through AsiaOne’s extensive base. Our goal is to make this city the best place to work and play hard in by scoring deals you simply can’t resist. Now, city dwellers can enjoy our deals via AsiaOne’s website too,” said one of the co-founders of Outlet.com.sg.

The partnership surely makes Outlet.com.sg happy. But I wonder if the happiness would be short-lived. With Groupon Singapore established, it is tough for the rest of the group buying clones to find an exit, especially when there are 46 of them. These group-buying clones could wait for LivingSocial to perform the same wide scale acquisition or get acquired by a traditional e-commerce company.