As Groupon.com takes the nation by storm with their $25 Gap deal (with a value of $50) and breaks sales records with an $11 million sweep, other copycat sites are popping up world wide trying to capture this great idea’s luster.  Mexico and Latin America, young and economically fertile, are just the areas.

“The ‘group sales’ market is growing, has been a boom around the world, mainly in the U.S. and Europe and Latin America now reaches the hands of many actors,” said Josue Gio of CEO of OferCity.com.mx, a new Groupon-like site that was just launched on Monday in Mexico.

OferCity, although just launched, is already boasting more than 5000 members and making offers in Queretaro and Merida in Mexico.

According to Josue, today’s Mexico’s e-commerce market value is estimated to be around $2.5 billion US Dollars with a potential growth of 70 percent.  Additionally, “the behavior of young people is changing with access to credit cards and Internet.  Market penetration about 30% with approximately 30 million Internet users in Mexico, coupled with increasing competition from companies like Megacable and others that are offering services such as tripleplay, it is expected that for 2014 is 50%, increasing the number of users in Mexico and thus e-commerce.”

It is no wonder that in the last few months other Groupon-like “group sales” sites are popping-up or reaching south of the border into Mexico and Latin America.  Last May, Cuponzote.com was launched, followed by BuzzUrbano.com in June — both in Mexico.  In July, Groupon.com itself announced their efforts of reaching Latin America by opening an office in Chile.  In August, ClickOnero.com is expected to be launched in Mexico.

“Latin America is a big and diverse market, and we are excited to bring the concept we pioneered in North America to the rest of the world by delivering deep savings to customers while helping local merchants find new customers. We are especially interested in catering to the unique cultures and interests of each market and that’s why they are managed by local teams in different markets,” said Rob Solomon, President and Chief Operating Officer for Groupon.

According to recent studies by IAB Mexico (Interactive Advertising Bureau México), online advertising in Mexico grew 24% in 2009 with an investment of 2.345 billion dollars in interactive advertising.  Also figures from AMIPCI (Mexican Internet Association/Asociación Mexicana de Internet), there are 30.6 million Internet users in Mexico. Of those Internet users, 39% belong to socioeconomic levels Upper, Upper Middle and Middle class.

“On the other hand,” said Gonzalo Alonso of Co-founder of ClickOnero, “the IAB’s LATAM ( Interactive Advertising Bureau Latin America) latest figures indicate that by adding Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, there are 166 million Internet users, and that the average penetration Internet in these 9 countries is 37%. Online advertising investment in the region continues to grow significantly in 2009 reaching $ 880 million.”

Conquering new worlds comes with its challenges, especially when you combine it with economics and new online business concepts.  For Groupon, the challenge also includes studying and learning the ways of a new culture.

“Relative to North America, one of our key challenges is consumer access to credit payment options. We will address this by adopting alternative local payment methods and building trust through local partnerships and world-class customer service, ” explained Rob Solomon.

“Our biggest challenge is really the Mexican mentality that sees the advertising of any kind as an expense and not as an investment.  Getting the user is easier.  To reach and convince the supplier that this online marketing tool and “social ecommerce” is a reality and very effective is not so easy,” says Josue of OferCity.

Erantzeri Corona, one of the founders of BuzzUrbano.com seconds that challenge.  “Our biggest challenge is the lack of an ‘online buying’ culture on the part of internet users . . . Unfortunately the internet is still not widely seen as an effective communication channel,” said Erantzeri.

Gonzalo of ClickOnero paints a rosier picture saying that Mexican businesses are willing to negotiate to participate in the action.  However, he still admits the challenges.  “The biggest challenge is the Internet penetration in Mexico. . . Our mission is to support from our trenches the Internet development in the country and the region,” admitted Gonzalo.

When we asked the CEO’s of these new sites, if they planned on venturing out into other countries, most said that the possibility is always there, but ClickOnero already is planning on opening offices in Chile, Venezuela and Peru by 2011.  Groupon, on the other hand and to no surprise, is already in the following Latin American countries:

• Mexico, Mexico City
• Brazil: Sao Paolo, Rio de Janeiro
• Argentina: Buenos Aires, Rosario, Cordoba
• Chile: Santiago, Valparaiso, Concepcion
• Colombia: Bogota
• Peru in 2011

There is a lot of promise in Mexico and Latin America when it comes to e-commerce.  Things are changing quickly and in a good way.

“Increasingly Mexico is more open to e-commerce.  There is a novel approach never before seen and companies are increasingly allocating much more budget for interactive media,” explained Alonso Gonzales.  “We see an ecosystem of e-commerce increasingly becoming healthier and more organized.  Before there were very few actors, one or two dominant companies.  Recently, the number of players in the industry has increased.”

Another market to explore for all these players, including Groupon, is the US Latino market which is already completely wired and completely sophisticated when it comes to e-commerce.  WiredLatinos did not get a response from Groupon regarding this possibility, but BuzzUrbano and Cuponzote are already partnering up with US companies to approach this lucrative market.  ClickOnero said that for now their bet is on Latin America.

Competition is healthy for everyone, and no one said it better than Josue of OferCity.com, “Now if you mean competition in general, say that they are all competition, even smaller groups, in the end the one who wins is the user.  This is a model of an offer to date, so the end user could be registered all platforms and take advantage of the offer he likes most.  So really all platforms complement each other.  The user’s taste is what you need to win.”