KAT在北京學漢語，她的中國朋友要是遇到了不知道用美語怎么說的詞，就會來請教她。今天是吳瓊要問的：團購。

WQ: KAT, 我這里有一些螃蟹和大蝦，你想要么？

KAT: Of course! I love sea food!

WQ: 去我家拿吧！ 全給你，不要錢！

KAT: Wow...Wuqiong, that’s really nice of you! Are you sure you don’t want them?

WQ: 你不知道，這些都是我團購買來的，太多了，吃不了！ 我還有餐券，電影票，健身卡，都是團購來的，好多都快到期了，我又沒時間去。對了，“團購”在美語里怎么說呢？

“團購”是一種“營銷噱頭”

KAT: It’s called "group buying." It is a very popular marketing gimmick now. A lot of my friends back in the US are just as obsessed with group buying as you are!

WQ: 呵呵，我的確是個“團購控”！ 不過你剛才說 Group buying is a marketing gimmick, 什么是gimmick？

KAT: Gimmick, g-i-m-m-i-c-k, gimmick, 是花招，噱頭。I call group buying a gimmick because it’s used by retailers to attract more people to buy products of mediocre quality and popularity.

WQ: 你說得有道理。團購是個促銷的花招，一般推出團購的都是小店、新店，團購的東西也不是什么名牌搶手貨。I don’t think I can ever get a discount on LV purses through group buying.

KAT: That’s right. In that sense, group buying is just another form of price war.

WQ: Price war? 價格戰？

KAT: 對。People use group buying because they want the discount. They want to buy things at a lower price.

WQ: 對，其實這和返券、打折差不多，都是商家在打價格戰。不過，我也不傻，等他們把價格升上去了，我就不買了，就去找新的團購貨！

KAT: Haha, that’s exactly how you became a group buying maniac! 好了，說說你今天都學了什么吧！

WQ: 第一：團購是group buying;

第二：花招，噱頭是gimmick;

第三：價格戰是price war。