1,483 Chinese Group Buy Sites Closed, 456 in October Alone

via titanicuniverse.com

At this point, everyone knows that the group buy market in China is, er, going through a rough patch. The question has long since shifted from “is this going to happen?” to “how bad is the damage?” and increasingly, it looks like the damage is pretty freakin’ bad.

Today, the China Youth Daily cites a recent survey of group buy sites in China that found that through October, 1,483 group buy sites in China had closed completely. And in worse news, 456 of those closings were in October, which means things are only getting worse.

And of course, plenty of sites that are effectively closed aren’t yet part of those numbers because their closing is unofficial. According to data released by Etao, as of October over 20 percent of group buy sites hadn’t been updated with new products in nearly a month. Then, of course, there are the many sites that remain operational but have altered their business model so that they’re no longer group buy sites.

So, I guess the new question is “when will things get better?” We don’t have any data for November yet — given that the month isn’t over — but it’s hard to imagine things are getting any better.