Argos launches co-buying option: can it save you money on your shopping?

As Argos launches a "co-buying" option to its shoppers, we look at how clubbing together can cut the cost of your shopping.

Retailer Argos has teamed up with technology company Buyapowa to offer a “co-buying” option to shoppers.

Argos claims the partnership, in its trial stages at the moment, will enable Argos’ Facebook fans and Twitter followers to shop together and save money on purchases.

Buyapowa’s technology works like this: customers request special offers on the products they want to buy, then use collective bargaining to get a better price. Users are encouraged to share offers via social media, namely Facebook and Twitter.

The more people who buy, the better the prices will be for everyone who participates.

In theory it sounds a great way to cut the cost of shopping, but does co-buying really work?

What is co-buying?

Co-buying, or cooperative buying, is where like-minded people or companies come together to negotiate collectively in order to lower the price of a product.

The concept is similar to that seen on “price drop” TV shopping channels;  as more people agree to buy a certain item, the cheaper the price of the item becomes. 

Buyapowa is one of the best-known co-buying sites and has been going for a couple of years. The site aims to offer the same kind of bulk-buy discounts previously only available to retailers.

As well as Argos, Buyapowa has partnerships with Tesco, Johnson & Johnson, Sony and Warehouse among others.

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How does Argos co-buying work?

Using the customised Buyapowa platform, Argos shoppers can click and fill in a product’s details to request a co-buy deal.

Popular requests will be listed as co-buys and be promoted across Argos’ social media and other communications channels, including its website.

Once you’ve joined a co-buy you are guaranteed to get the product, but users are encouraged to share the offer on Facebook and Twitter as the more people who join, the lower the price goes.

When you join a co-buy you’ll see the “current price”, which is how much you will pay if nobody else joins that co-buy after you. You will also see a “best price”, which is the lowest that the co-buy could close at. This price is achieved when 75% of buyers have been sourced for that particular deal.

Each co-buy opportunity only lasts for a specified period, normally just a few hours, and there are only a certain number of products on offer. No money is taken from your bank card or PayPal account until the co-buy has closed

Free stuff

Shoppers are encouraged to spread the news of live co-buy deals on Facebook, Twitter and email.

There’s a co-buying leaderboard for each product which displays everyone in the co-buy and indicates who has brought in the most other buyers. If you top the leaderboard at the end of a co-buy, as long as the co-buy sells out and assuming none of your referrals cancels their order, you’ll get your product for free, including any postage costs involved.

If you don’t fancy committing any money to buying a particular product, you can still attempt to get it for free by using Buyapowa’s “share to win” scheme.

This works in much the same way as the leaderboard: direct more purchasers to the co-buy deal than anyone else and you’ll be able to get the product for free or, in some cases, its value in cash.

What’s on offer at Argos?

The service is now up and running at www.buyapowa.com/argos and will feature products from Argos’ general merchandise range of more than 29,000 items.

One of the first live deals on the Argos site was for a radio alarm clock that initially cost £29.99 but dropped to £14.99 as more people piled in to the deal.

People can add their email address to upcoming co-buys so they are notified when they go live.

Has co-buying worked for you? Let us know.

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