Organize your group shopping cart.

Luciane Macedo _247 - The online group buying business, a market that already moves more than R$ 1 billion in just 20 months of existence in Brazil, is far from experiencing a slowdown. According to Fecomercio-SP (Federation of Commerce of Goods, Services and Tourism of the State of São Paulo), 80 million Brazilians have internet access and, among them, 27 million are online consumers. The average spending is R$ 350, one of the highest in the world. And more than 16% of internet users visit group buying websites, according to research by comScore. The numbers confirm that the discount coupon craze is here to stay.

But with thousands of offers advertised daily on more than 1.500 websites, it's becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of all the opportunities and find the best bargains by region. Visiting site after site, even just those of the biggest players in this business, or trying to pick out the most interesting discounts that arrive via email is no longer a viable alternative due to the work and time required. And time is money, especially in the world of group buying, where a sensational discount can expire in a few hours.

To help internet users find the ideal deal, aggregators have emerged, bringing together discounts from various group buying websites in one place. The search has become less laborious and faster. But a little patience is still needed to select the best aggregator, as there are already dozens of them.

One of the pioneers and most accessed is the SaveME, which aggregates offers from sites such as Groupalia, clickOn, Hotel Urbano, Discount Club, Bonus Planet e ManAmong other things, it's possible to filter discounts by searching by keyword, location, or product/service type, and receive everything in a single email. SaveMe also organizes coupons through OrganizeMe, so that the buyer knows when they are about to expire.

O SaveMe MobileThe SaveMe app, which can be downloaded for free from the Apple Store, is compatible with iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, and allows users to find the nearest deals using GPS or zip code and map the best route to get there. The SaveMe app is also available for Android phones.

O PointOutOffers It's an aggregator that offers the same type of selection of discount coupons by city and category of interest, and also sends them by email. And the application It is also available for Blackberry, in addition to iPhones and Android phones.

For those who want to spend even less time selecting discounts by city, there are exclusively regional aggregators, such as... Fortaleza Discounts and POA DiscountsThese are a good option. And segmented aggregators are also starting to emerge. One of them is... iTrip, which organizes the best tourism deals in the vast group buying market. To find out which aggregators are most accessed among almost a hundred options, the Blog do Cupom maintains a updated list based on Alexa rank.

It's important to remember that aggregators act as intermediaries between consumers and group buying websites, functioning only as a virtual showcase of offers originating from multiple shopping sites. Aggregators are not responsible for the financial transaction, which continues to be processed on the website where the discount originated. According to Idec (Brazilian Institute for Consumer Protection), the aggregator's responsibility is limited to advertising the offers displayed.

When purchasing a discount coupon on any group buying website, certain precautions should be taken. In the case of exorbitant discounts of 99%, make sure that the price advertised in the offer matches the price of the product or service outside the virtual world. "Some companies that advertise on group buying websites are inflating prices in order to advertise a 99% discount," warns Guilherme Varella, a lawyer at Idec (Brazilian Institute for Consumer Protection). "When they don't provide the necessary information about the participating companies or when the discount is too large, group buying websites cease to be a facilitator of the consumer's life and become a simple inducer of impulse buying," he adds.

Varella recommends that, before purchasing a discount coupon, internet users visit the website of the company offering the promotion and check if it is also advertised there. If the company does not have a website, the recommendation is to call to ensure that the offer is valid. Check the company's practices on "Reclame Aqui" or through a search on the website of Procon These are also recommended practices before being swayed by an offer that seems too good to be true.