Group Buying: Should Small Businesses Jump In?

Group Buying: Should Small Businesses Jump In?

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

A new “group buying” trend is emerging on the web, in which consumers effectively band together to get better deals or discounts when purchasing products and services. One of the flagship group buying web services, GroupOn, was recently valued at over $1 billion — providing a sense of just how big this sector could become.

Other services like LivingSocial have raised significant funding. A fleet of other competitors are cropping up as well, from Tippr to Lifebooker and a number of smaller localized deal sites. Although still technically in its early stages, group buying is poised to become one of the bigger trends to emerge in 2010. Read more…

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