GOOD Spirits, a deli-bar and coffee shop at The Collective in San Antonio Village, Makati City, had its hands full filling up orders for its Kamasutra Cake after the product got listed on www.buyanihan.com.

In less than a week since its listing, the dark rich chocolate cake complete with gold pearl trimmings and holiday theme packaging sold 1,200 pieces, according to sources at the cafe. Perhaps it helped that the luscious cake sold for P75, half its original price if one presented a coupon from Buyanihan.

Having enticed buyers with a lower price, it is now easy for Good Spirits to count on repeat sales, as the 1,200 first-time customers would most likely spread the good word to friends and family.

And that is the idea behind Groupon, or group coupons, that entitle one to sizeable discounts on goods as long as there are enough people buying the product to enable its seller to make a profit on volume sales.

Eddie Lee, chief information officer of Malaysia-based Platform2u.com which started the online group-buying operation in August last year, says the kind of response that Good Spirits got from listing with the site is what it hopes to duplicate among other entrepreneurs aiming for sales and marketing awareness at the lowest possible cost.

According to Lee, everybody wins with www.buyanihan.com.

The sellers win because they get instant access to the estimated 280,000 followers, members and subscribers of the website, which means a potentially large market for their goods and services. The buyers win as well because they get up to a 50 percent discount on products, plus the added convenience of shopping in their seats online, without the hassle of jostling with the holiday crowd.

The good prices are made possible because of the promise of buying in bulk, similar to buying in Divisoria or Baclaran at wholesale prices, says Lee.

?We just take a percentage then the balance goes to the merchant to help them in their business,? he adds.

For its first deal in August last year, Platform2u.com offered 400 coupons from Zoobic Safari at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone. The entrance tickets to the popular family destination normally cost P450, but were sold at only P225 through the Buyanihan site. All the coupons were sold.

?We have done 12 deals as of October and are now confident of rolling out more aggressively,? says Lee.

So how does the concept work?

First, buyers have to log on to the site and check out featured deals and products. They then click on the products they like, and wait for the minimum number of buyers needed to also place an order for the deal to go through.

This is the essence of group buying: Merchants will have to be assured of a minimum number of orders for them to be encouraged to provide the big discount that they normally don?t give to retail buyers.

Once the minimum order is reached, the buyers are asked to pay, either through credit cards or in cash.

Lee says the concept of buyers helping other buyers get a discount ?and helping merchants get additional sales?is not so far from the Filipino trait of bayanihan, which is all about helping each other out in times of need.

?Buyanihan, like the Filipino concept, is about the culture and spirit of working together toward a common goal to make everybody happy,? he adds.

He says there is great potential for www.buyanihan.com to grow its business in the Philippines as the country is estimated to have a large online market of 24 million, and growing.

This is why even as Platform4u grows its business in the Philippines, plans are already underway to build on its knowledge and experience in the country as a means of expanding into the region.

?We will look at our model here and then grow into a regional player. We also want to go global someday,? says Lee.

Initially, the website is only available to buyers in Metro Manila, but will be expanded next year to include Cebu and Malaysia.

?A lot of people still lack trust in e-commerce,? Lee says, ?We want to change that through www.buyanihan.com.? ?