Image of Chinese smart car from Time.com
Chinese eBay site Taobao launched a group purchase for Benz Smart Car on Sep 9. Mercedes-Benz expected to sell 205 cars in 21 days. Surprisingly, all cars were sold out in three and a half hours, which set a price record for a single deal in the shortest time span.
Taobao offered a 23% discount for group purchase (RMB 40,000 discount with the original price of RMB 176,000), and buyers only had to put under RMB 1,000 down to reserve their purchase.
The first car was sold after 24 seconds, 55 cars were sold after six minutes and 205 cars were gone after three and a half hours, according to People’s Daily.
“This is an astonishing surprise for Mercedes-Benz as the initial plan for the Chinese online group buying campaign was for it to stretch over 21 days, but in the end all 205 cars were sold out in slightly over three hours,” said the company’s release.
Although group shopping sites in China tend to keep prices below RMB 100 to attract the most customers, this sale showed that China’s growing affluent class are looking for more than a cheap lunch or home appliance deals.
Source:
http://www.cnngo.com/shanghai/shop/taobao-sells-205-benzes-just-over-three-hours-65363