Imagine you’re going to buy a netbook. You know nothing about makes, characteristics or prices. The best thing would be to ask a friend. Maybe you hook up with another friend who’s also looking for a computer. Now imagine there’s a system for doing this that also lets you make flexible offers depending on the number of people interested in the object. Introducing Kactoos.
Kactoos.com is not an online shop. It’s a social platform that allows its users to form groups associated with an article they want to buy, with one objective: to save money. Its slogan sums up the concept: "More friends, more savings". The price of the item decreases as to more and more people register and join particular groups. The associated sellers set the price according to demand and thus everyone wins.
Kactoos started off in Miami and is currently expanding in countries like Colombia, where its founders come from, Brazil, Argentina, Spain and the United States, where there are already ventures that use similar methods.
The basic idea is known as Tuangou. It originated in China where groups of people take over stores so as to get discounts on their desired items. At the beginning of the decade some projects brought this method to the internet, but when the dot com bubble burst it lead to their downfall. Today the scene is better prepared for this kind of initiative with the explosion of social networks that make social online shopping an efficient and popular way to save.
http://www.kactoos.com
