New daily deal sites are cynically referred to as Groupon Clones (the reference being to the US website that gave birth to the concept), so new start-ups are automatically at a disadvantage as they struggle to make themselves unique in the eyes of weary consumers.
TikTokThai certainly weren’t the first to bring this concept to Thailand; Ensogo launched with much fanfare earlier this year, with DealDidi and even web-portal giant Sanook.com following closely behind. Still, so far, TikTokThai is the first to promise daily deals tailored especially for Thailand’s huge, yet often neglected, expat community.
TikTokThai’s commitment to serving Thailand’s expats was made clear during October and November when, during the pre-launch phase, the site ran a series of amazing (others said insane!) contests giving away some seriously cool stuff ranging from cash prizes for a Halloween photo contest to tickets to see the recent Charlatans concert in Bangkok.
Then, as though to outdo themselves, a bizarre giveaway of 1,000 free coupons that could be redeemed for free pints at a British pub and Belgian chocolates at a top-end local outlet — no strings attached!
The beginning of December saw the real deals running on the website, but in our chat with Team TikTokThai, we were told to expect more random, unannounced and equally crazy giveaways too, keeping things fresh, fun and interesting. Just like the daily deals, the giveaways will come and go within very short time-frames, so one has to be quick.
It’s a good idea to be following TikTokThai on Facebook or Twitter or simply to be subscribed to their spam-free mailing list; once the deals and giveaways are over, they’re over. As one can imagine, it doesn’t take long for 1,000 free pints to be snapped up by thirsty expats!
What is really unique and striking about TikTokThai is the way that they’re set up as a business. This isn’t your typical setup with hi-flying directors gunning around town for venture capital injections. Instead, TikTokThai is made up of a humble group of people, both in Thailand and abroad, all with their own businesses and careers. They seem more interested in the fun of creating the deals and spicing up the expat social and business communities than anything else.
As such, the team are always eager to form spontaneous, creative and generous partnerships with other individuals and organizations. As one team member put it, “we’re up for whatever… you can’t get too serious about this kind of thing and we’re not going for any sort of world-domination angle on this… it’s more important that everyone has fun, this is Thailand after all!”
Yes, it is!
