For a lot of us, onions are just another food item, an ingredient used to make dishes, but in countries such as India, onions are an essential ingredient in a lot of their food to the extent that when Groupon India offered onions at a massive bargain, the demand for the item was so large that it actually crashed Groupon India’s website! The deal basically offered those living in India the opportunity to purchase onions at a price of 9 rupees per kilogram, which is about 15 cents for 2.2 pounds. It was so cheap that the site managed to sell 3,000 kilograms of onions in a mere 44 minutes, with the total amount of onions purchase amounting to 8,000 kilograms by the end of the week when the offered ended.
To put it into perspective, onions are typically sold in India at about 100 rupees per kilogram, and it is obvious that at 9 rupees per kilogram, it was a pretty good bargain. According to Ankur Warikoo, Groupon India’s CEO who spoke to Al Jazeera, “We wanted to sell it at a price that most of us have completely forgotten.” On a more serious note, it has been notedthat this massive demand highlights the plight of the Indian economy and its depreciating rupee and food shortage.
Filed in . Read more about Groupon.