Seckillers make hay as discount fever gains ground

Internet Shopping poised for growth as more and more customers look for deals

Seckilling is fast becoming the buzzword among online shoppers in China as the frenzy to buy products at unbelievably low prices heats up.

The word "seckill," is a combination of "second" and "kill" and originated from a popular online game. It now refers to a method of online shopping wherein customers have to bid for newly advertised products within seconds to enjoy lower-than-ever prices.

That the trend is gaining popularity was visibly evident when popular online shopping website Taobao.com clocked record sales volumes in November last year after a seckill program.

The eBay-like site clocked record sales of 936 million yuan (109.38 million euros) through its B2C platform Taobao Mall during the period.

Under the plan, customers could seckill anything from electronic products to cosmetics at half price, including much sought after products like the iPhone 4 and iPad.

Online storeowners are increasingly using this method to attract shoppers and many of them have developed loyal clientele.

Trace Xu, 25, who works at a global retail company in Shanghai, seckills clothes at Taobao.com twice a month on a regular basis.

"The new arrivals at some popular stores are sold out within 30 seconds after they are available for sale. So I have to be really quick to get the ones I fancy," says Xu.

One advantage of the seckilling program is that shoppers get enough advance notice about the newly advertised products to help them identify their favorites.

Seckill shoppers like Xu take enough precautions to ensure that they are able to get the products they want.

"I close all the unnecessary programs and websites on my computer to ensure that I have the adequate speed. At the same time I also continuously refresh my shopping page and ensure that necessary settings like the mailing address are in place.

"Sometimes the whole process is nerve wracking. But when I succeed in making a deal, I feel like a winner."

Xu spends more than 1,000 yuan every month for seckilling clothes. "I don't have any regrets. Most of the garments I chose are well designed and of good quality. The same products are very expensive in department stores."

But seckilling is not just about garments. It has spread to other sectors like airline tickets, where prices keep changing frequently. Seckilling airline tickets is expected to reach its frenzy this month ahead of the Spring festival as people search for cheaper options to travel home.

Ticket booking websites like Qunar.com and some airline companies are already offering discount tickets through seckilling.

Hainan Airlines offers a limited number of single tickets on 40 randomly selected routes for 99 yuan every day on its website. The price is, however, exclusive of the tax and fuel surcharge.

Cai Haiqing, an employee at a private furniture company in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, has been an avid shopper on the website during past few months and has successfully bought the 99-yuan tickets for more than 10 times.

Most of the tickets that she seckilled and won were for travel between Shenzhen and her hometown Jinan, capital city of Shandong province.

"The full price ticket for the route is around 1,700 yuan and the biggest discount I've ever got before was 70 percent, still higher than the seckilling price," says Cai.

"Seckilling airline tickets is a habit now. Most of my family members and friends turn to me before travel to see if any 99-yuan deals are available."

Tickets on popular routes are gradually disappearing from the list, she says.

"Seckilling seems more like a marketing tool of the airline company now," adds Cai.

The seckilling frenzy has also bred a new set of professionals called miao-ke, who do the bidding on behalf of customers and charge service fees if the product is successfully bid.

At Taobao.com, there are more than 20 miaoke stores, whose owners are mostly IT professionals.

Miaoke make seckilling more difficult for ordinary people, as they can easily guarantee a high success rate with the help of special software and high network speed.

The service fee ranges from 10 to 20 yuan for each product and may be a bit higher for the ones that are in limited supply. The service fees are refunded if the bidding fails.

Jiang Gaocai, an IT worker in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, started to run a miaoke store by himself on Taobao.com from May last year.

"It doesn't take too much time to do the seckilling with the special software. So I'm doing it on part-time basis now," he said.

Jiang only accepts orders for seckilling clothes at Taobao.com.

"If there are opportunities for seckilling expensive products like electronic devices or airline tickets, I make the bids for myself and my friends," he says.

"As far as I know, most of the miao-ke stores only help their customers seckill clothes. If it were not for so many online clothing stores, it will be hard for the miaoke to survive, says Jiang.

"To be honest, what I've earned through seckilling is higher than my salary, so I think I'll keep doing it for some more time."

But there are also concerns that the usage of miaoke may imperil Taobao accounts, as customers have to furnish their account name and password.

"We must know the account information to place an order. But the customers don't need to worry about their account safety because we can't access their money without the payment password," says Jiang.