Audi sells compact hatchback on group-buying site for first time

The Audi deal went live at midnight on 1 June on the Yahoo Deals website, offering 10 of the new 5-door car at the discounted price of HK$249,900, down from the original list price of HK$316,000.

The offer, representing a 20 per cent discount and savings of HK$66,100, was sold out within 45 minutes, prompting Audi to release a second batch of another 10 cars at a slightly higher price of HK$259,900. Buyers have to pay a deposit of HK$11,111 to secure the deal.

The A1 counts the Mini Cooper as one of its direct competitiors, but that car is selling at a list price of HK$255,800, lower than the A1's discounted group-buying price.

Chong Got, managing director of Premium Motors, the Audi distributor in Hong Kong and Macao, said the group-buying offer will help the brand reach out to a younger target audience.

Leonard Cheng, general manager of the Audi distributor, said the main aim is to create buzz in the market, and the move is consistent with one of Audi's brand value of being innovative.

"We're not worried about cheapening the luxury brand image of Audi, as this is another sales channel," Got said. "In fact, it's a precision marketing technique, because this deal will appeal to customers who have already done research about the A1 Sportback and know what they want."

Alfred Tsoi, vice president and managing director of Yahoo Hong Kong, said the collaboration with Audi will "surely open up a new frontier" for the city’s upmarket group-buying scene.

Currently, the most popular purchases on the site are shopping-related goods, F&B coupons, tickets to entertainment—accounting for more than half of all deals.

“It’s noteworthy that the group-buying scene in Hong Kong has evolved dramatically,” said Mark Liu, director of e-commerce at Yahoo Hong Kong. “Before this, consumers were only willing to buy low-cost products, now they are more open to higher-priced ones such as dehumidifiers for more than HK$3,000 and Tunisia tours for nearly HK$10,000."

Liu said this reflects a collective willingness to spend on group-buying sites, and shows that the e-commerce market in Hong Kong has become quite mature.

Since its launch in June last year, the Yahoo Deals group-buying aggregator site has introduced more than 4,800 deals and processed more than 1 million transactions. 

According to ComScore's April 2012 data, Yahoo! Deals is Hong Kong’s No. 1 group-buying site in terms of local penetration rate, compared to Groupon, which Got quipped was a site he "has never heard of".

In September 2010, Mercedes-Benz launched a similar group buying online campaign and sold 200 Smart cars in three hours and 28 minutes on Taobao Mall.

Commenting on what Mercedes-Benz did two years ago, Cheng said it was an "old model" that was offered, while Audi is selling a car model brand new to Hong Kong.