In Q3 2014, total transaction value of China group buying market was RMB22.96 billion (US$3.74 billion) with an increase of 43.6% quarter on quarter.

The group buying orders were 31.3 million with an increase of 20.4% from the same period of prior year; the number of group buying users was 340 million with an increase of 30.8% YoY; per customer transaction was 67 yuan, which increased by 11.7% YoY in Q3 2014 in China according to data of EnfoDesk.

It is estimated that in the second half of 2014, transaction value of China group buying market will exceed RMB46.2 billion (US$7.53 billion) and total transaction value will be RMB75 billion (US$12.2 billion) in 2014. China group buying market is performing continuously well and it has stepped into a new stage for rapid development.

Meituan, Dianping and Baidu Nuomi were top 3 group buying providers in China in Q3 2014 by transaction value. It is believed that fierce competition for market share will be among the top 3 providers in the future.

China group buying market’s major revenue was from food, entertainment， hotel & traveling service in Q3 2014. Food accounted for 57% with an increase of 7% while entertainment service accounted for 21% with a decrease of 4%. In the first half of 2014, China group buying websites obtained more market share of online food ordering market comparing with other channels. The top 4 group buying websites in China online food ordering market are Meituan.com, Dianping.com, Nuomi.com and Lashou.com.

In Q3 2014, market share of tier-3 cities accounted for 35% with an increase of 3% YoY and tier-4 & lower cities increased by 2%. Besides, different group buying websites focused on different tier cities since first half of 2013 in China which changed market share in August.

China group buying market has become the arena for internet giants since first half of 2014. With powerful technology of search and LBS, Baidu Nuomi are making efforts in lifestyle O2O market. And, Tencent is creating lifestyle O2O ecological system based on Wechat as well as groupon, Dianping.com and 58.com. Wechat POS is consisted of customized POS machine and Wechat payment, targeting offline stores’ payment solution which means it is ambitiously boosting O2O service.

Also read: 10 Case Studies for Wechat Marketing

Since first half of 2013, China popular group buying websites like Nuomi.com, Meituan.com and 55tuan.com all expanded business in lower tier cities in China. Their market share now shows an increasing gap from other group buying websites who are still making efforts in tier-1 and tier-2 cities.

According to the latest data from the report of China group buying market statistics in August published on Tuan88.com, 55tuan and Lashou had 72.6% and 55.97% market share respectively in fourth and lower tier cities but  only 5.45% and 13.67% in first tier cities in August. Dianping, which concentrating on prosperous cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, accounted for 69.9% market share while in fourth tier city, it only accounted for 1.16%.

Also read: China Online Food Ordering Market in 2014