The Smart car 'group buying' online campaign on Taobao Mall, masterminded by MEC Beijing, kicked off at 10am on 9 September. According to Taobao, 116 orders were placed in just one hour and another 143 orders in the second hour. In three hours and 28 minutes, all 200 smart cars were snapped up by Taobao bidders.
While Smart car retails for RMB175,000 (US$25,750) in China, it was sold on Taobao for a much cheaper price at RMB135,000 (US$19,860)
Zhejiang province, where Taobao is located, saw the most bidders at 69, followed by 45 in Beijing and 22 in Guangdong.
“This is an astonishing surprise for Mercedes-Benz as the initial plan for the group buying online campaign stretched over 21 days, but in the end all 200 cars were sold out in slightly over three hours,” said the company’s release.
Taobao Mall and Mercedez-Benz are now considering their next move.
According to Mercedes-Benz, on average the company only sees one car sold in China every day.
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