This week, we distill insights around Tesco Wine Co-Buys – a group buying program which enables people to refer friends to buy cases of wine at better prices. 100+ thinkers and planners within MSLGROUP share and discuss inspiring projects on social data, crowdsourcing, storytelling and citizenship on the MSLGROUP Insights Network. Every week, we pick up one project and do a deep dive into conversations around it -- on the MSLGROUP Insights Network itself but also on the broader social web -- to distill insights and foresights. We share these insights with you on our People’s Insights blog and compile the best insights from the network and the blog in the People’s Insights Quarterly Magazine, as a showcase of our capabilities. We have further synthesized the insights to provide foresights for business leaders and changemakers — in the ten-part People’s Insights annual report titled Now & Next: Ten Frontiers for the Future of Engagement, now available as a Kindle eBook. For more, see: http://peopleslab.mslgroup.com/future-of-engagement

1. crowdsourcing | storytelling | citizenship | social data
Tesco Wine Co-Buys
People’s Insights Volume 2, Issue 19

2. Volume 2, Issue 19,
April - June, 2013
Future of
Money
Tesco Wine Co-Buys
100+ thinkers and planners within
MSLGROUP share and discuss inspiring
projects on social data, crowdsourcing,
storytelling and citizenship on the
MSLGROUP Insights Network. Every
week, we pick up one project and curate
the conversations around it — on the
MSLGROUP Insights Network itself but
also on the broader social web — into
a weekly insights report. Every quarter,
we compile these insights, along with
original research and insights from the
MSLGROUP global network, into the
People’s Insights Quarterly Magazine.
We have synthesized the insights from
our year-long endeavor throughout 2012
to provide foresights for business leaders
and changemakers — in the ten-part
People’s Insights Annual Report titled
Now & Next: Ten Frontiers for the Future
of Engagement.
People’s Insights
In 2013, we continue to track inspiring
projects at the intersection of social
data, crowdsourcing, storytelling and
citizenship.
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3. 3
What are Tesco Wine Co-Buys?
In May 2013, Tesco partnered with buyapowa to launch Wine Co-Buys – a group buying platform which
enables people to refer friends to buy cases of wine at better prices. The model relies on the power of
people’s networks and on Tesco’s commitment to deliver genuine value.
Marketer India Warman wrote:
“All retailers are battling to come up with innovative ways to attract customers at the moment. With online
sales being so high and customers dictating how they want to buy, Tesco may have got the right idea!”
Source: tesco.com
Source: tesco.com
Power to the People
Through the Wine Co-Buys, Tesco shifts some
power to the people, giving them more control
over the product pricing and a say in which
products should be included in the next Co-Buy.
According to Social Commerce Today’s Paul
Marsden, the program is an example of “social
commerce for the empowered customer”:
“What we particularly like is that it appears to be
demand led; customers are able to choose wines they
want to buy together in bulk – and set a maximum
price they’d be willing to pay. The more people that
sign up, the heavier the discount – with the person
who recruits the most co-buyers – via social sharing
– getting a case of wine for free. Sweet.”
How it works
Tesco announces upcoming Wine by the Case
Co-Buys on its website and invites people to sign
up for an email notification. Once a Co-Buy goes
live, people can go to the buyapowa website
and “join” the Co-Buy. People enter their name,
address and payment details, pay a £1 joining fee,
and commit to purchasing the case of wine at the
final price achieved by the Co-Buy.
Source: retail-week.com
The starting price for the product is already
discounted, and people drop the price lower by
inviting friends to participate in the Co-Buy and
purchase the product.
As Alex Lawson pointed out:
“Shoppers commit to a maximum price but the
price point falls as the number of people that
purchase the product increases.”
Mommy blogger Leanne Amy explains “how the
‘prices drop as people shop’ thing works”:

4. Volume 2, Issue 19,
April - June, 2013
Future of
Money
Tesco Wine Co-Buys
“There are three price drops, and the obvious goal
is to get enough people to join the co-buy that the
third price drop (and therefore the lowest price) can
be achieved.
“Typically, there will be 100 units of each product
to be sold. If between 1 and 24 people join the
co-buy, they will pay BuyaPowa’s starting price for
the item (which is already lower than RRP). Once
more than 25 people join, the price will drop some.
At 50 people, it will drop again. At 75 people (up to
100 when the items sells out), the third price drop
will happen and everybody receives the product at
BuyaPowa’s best price.”
Source: buyapowa.com/deal/2441
Source: buyapowa.com/deal/2441
Source: buyapowa.com/deal/2443
The number of participant slots for the Tesco
Wine Co-Buys varies from 25 to 150, depending
on stock. As a result, most Tesco Wine Co-Buys
last only a few hours. At the end of a Co-Buy,
Tesco issues participants an eCoupon which they
can use to buy the specified case of wine at the
best price achieved. The eCoupon includes a
further £1 discount, to make up for the joining
fee, and must be redeemed within two weeks.
Source: Tesco Co-Buys: The more people who buy, the better for price… for
Everyone!
Power of People’s Networks
Tesco encourages people to use the power of
their networks with more than just the price drops
– the person to refer the most number of friends
in the least amount of time “Wins the Co-Buy”
and receives the case of wine for free.
The leading participants are featured on a public
leaderboard, increasing the sense of competition
between players and egging them to recruit more
friends.
To further widen its reach, Tesco recently
introduced the “Share to Win” feature, which
allows people participate in “Win the Co-Buy”
without actually placing an order. This feature
seduces people with large social followings
to promote the Co-Buy without making a
commitment to buy. In the event of a tie, the
paying participant would take priority over the
“Share to Win” participant.
Blogger beccacaddy wrote:
“This means there’s also quite a big social element to
Buyapowa, as users are encouraged to get more people
to buy the product they want. No matter how sneaky
you might think that is on Buyapowa’s part, you can’t
deny it’s a pretty clever selling tactic, get someone else
to promote the products on your site for you.”

5. 5
Source: buyapowa.com/tesco
Source: http://www.buyapowa.com/tesco#request-lightbox
Source: notsupermum.com
Source: tescowinecommunity.com
People can also use the power of their network to
request products for future co-buys. Tesco’s rules
note:
“When three or more people nominate a product
they would like to buy in a one-week period, we will
immediately get to work on their behalf to see if we
can create a Co-buy deal, and we will always do our
very best to make it happen.”
Promoting the Co-Buys
Tesco promotes the Co-Buys through its blogger
network of Tesco Wine Ambassadors and its
own online wine community. At the launch of
Tesco community managers typically announce
the individual Co-Buys on the Tesco wine
community blog. But with the steep competition
and short timeframes, community members now
make the announcements to ensure their friends
– and referrals – get the chance to participate.
the platform, the ambassadors introduced and
explained the concept of Co-Buys in their blogs.
Genuinely good prices
The success of the Co-Buys rests heavily on Tesco’s commitment to deliver genuine value.
Potential participants are typically skeptical of the claim of “best price,” as community member Aimetu
pointed out:
“I’m just not sure about this - the lowest prices depend on purchasers but I’m sure the low prices have been
available at various times throughout the year or various promotions.”
Tesco’s community manager Charlotte Stebbings was quick to counter:
“We ran an offer on Jackson Estate Stich Sauvignon Blanc in March of this year with a promotional price of
£54 for a case of 6. The final price of the latest Co-Buy at £45 for a case of 6 is significantly below this and is
a fantastic price for a wine of this quality and reputation.”

6. Volume 2, Issue 19,
April - June, 2013
Future of
Money
Tesco Wine Co-Buys
Source: guardian.co.uk
Source: nakedwines.com/angels
Source: clubw.com
Is the buyapowa model here to
stay?
The concept of group buying was previously
introduced by deal sites like Groupon, which tend
to focus on services. buyapowa, on the other
hand, focuses on a wide range of products – from
household items (Crest WhiteStrips), gadgets
(Amazon Kindle) to beauty products (Lancôme
mascara, YSL nail polish, Jean Paul Gaultier
perfumes).
Mommy bloggers like Sylvestrix applaud the
model for making high end products more
affordable:
“I originally started keeping an eye on it for
household items, but I’m super excited about
the potential it has for bringing high end beauty
products down to a more accessible level.”
Other innovative buying schemes
Entrepreneurs and organizations are
experimenting with new buying schemes
designed to build loyalty. Two examples in the
wine category, via Social Commerce Today, are
Club W which offers a curated selection of wine
every month, and naked wines which invites
people to support independent winemakers and
become ‘naked angels.’

7. People’s Lab is MSLGROUP’s proprietary
crowdsourcing platform and approach that
helps organizations tap into people’s insights for
innovation, storytelling and change.
The People’s Lab crowdsourcing platform
helps organizations build and nurture public
or private, web or mobile, hosted or white
label communities around four pre-configured
application areas: Expertise Request Network,
Innovation Challenge Network, Research &
Insights Network and Contest & Activation
Network. Our community and gaming features
encourage people to share rich content, vote/
comment on other people’s content and
collaborate to find innovative solutions.
The People’s Lab crowdsourcing platform
and approach forms the core of our distinctive
insights and foresight approach, which consists
of four elements: organic conversation analysis,
MSLGROUP’s own insight communities, client-
specific insights communities, and ethnographic
deep dives into these communities. The People’s
Insights Quarterly Magazines showcase our
capability in crowdsourcing and analyzing
insights from conversations and communities.
People’s Lab:
Crowdsourcing Innovation & Insights
Learn more about us at:
peopleslab.mslgroup.com | twitter.com/peopleslab

8. For People’s Lab solutions, contact
pascal.beucler@mslgroup.com