GaoPeng, a daily-deals site that represents Groupon’s foray into China, has now begun accepting registrations, having signed a raft of deals with major retailers and services.
GaoPeng is a collaboration between Groupon, which is vying to be the largest daily-deal site in the US, and the local Tencent Collaboration Fund and Yunfeng Capital. Tencent launched QQ.com, whose instant-messenger software counted over 630 million users last September.
The service will work much like Groupon’s services does in the US, with daily deals from things to do, see, and eat sent out to consumers each day.
GaoPeng will launch its first deals in March, and cover Beijing and Shanghai, with plans to extend to other major cities in China in the coming months, the company said.
“Groupon is a recognized brand name with excellent operational and sales execution capabilities,” said Yun Ouyang, head of GaoPeng, in a statement. “GaoPeng will learn from the international group-buying experience of Groupon while focusing on the local market in China. We are committed to catering to the local and diversified shopping needs of local customers and to the business needs of local merchants.”
Ouyang said that GaoPeng hopes to work with other group-buying portals to jointly develop the market.
GaoPeng is a word meaning a “cherished friend sitting around the table”. More importantly, it’s the domain name that Groupon has decided to use for its digital presence in China—Groupon.cn has already been registered by a competing company that promotes daily deals to an alleged user base of more than seven million people.
