Magazines Archives - 2012 February

Dealised ventures into HK's competitive, fast-growing group-buying space
Story 8 - E-Commerce

SINGAPORE-BASED global groupbuying operation Dealised has entered the highly competitive Hong Kong market with its recent local acquisitions of Lokaly Network Limited (LNL), owner of group-buying services platform Lokaly and consumer group-buying site ValuUp, the latter a top-10 consumer deals site.

Dealised CEO Jonathan Marchbank described the acquisitions as part of the group's Asia growth story. "With these deals, Dealised now has a strong position in a fast-growing, sophisticated Asian market, a solid customer base and a strong team. The Hong Kong deals market is worth more than US$60 million and is growing. Our Hong Kong team will help us grow right across Asia."

Hong Kong entrepreneur Doug Aitken, co-founder of LNL, added: "By leveraging Dealised's resources and expertise, we will continue to evolve the daily-deal model. Dealised's track record demonstrates the business model value. Dealised is after all the company that helped its partners in Australia and Scandinavia dominate their respective markets, beating Groupon and Living Social."

There are more than 30 companies offering daily deals in Hong Kong and the market is estimated to generate revenues of between US$60 million and US$70 million per year. The market is projected to be worth some US$4 billion by 2015.

The acquisition was completed through an allequity deal. Dealised also announced Jason Keiles' appointment as senior vicepresident for global business development, as well as its latest partner, UK-based betterNbetter, a European design-focused site.

Keiles is responsible for identifying and recruiting partners to use Dealised's technology and services group-buying platform, from turnkey solutions to customisable options. ra

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