Flubit update: £6.5m in demands since launch

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FlubitWe’ve been keeping track of the progress of Flubit.com since they launched in late September last year. It’s always tricky to launch a new marketplace in the face of competition from the giants – eBay and Amazon, so it’s great to see Flubit flourishing and growing.

If you don’t already know, Flubit is a private marketplace. Instead of listing products, Flubit asks online shoppers to tell them the product they want to buy. A short while later Flubit sends the user a better offer for that product on behalf of one of their sellers. This personalised shopping experience allows etailers to sell directly to shoppers who are most likely to buy, in private. And because Flubit does not charge a fixed final-value fee, sellers can afford to send Flubit their most competitive prices.

Exciting early figures

Flubit have received £6.5m worth of demands since their launch, and 32% of offers they’ve sent out have converted into orders. They have recently surpassed the 50,000 demands mark and user numbers are swelling by 60% month on month. The most in-demand product categories have been consumer electronics, home and beauty products, video games, books and toys.

This has all been achieved with minimal marketing expenditure as the focus has been on catalogue expansion and merchant acquisition this half of 2013. There is certainly a buzz around the Flubit concept amongst online shopping forums and communities – this will lay the foundation for Flubit’s big marketing campaign leading up to Christmas.

Customer retention rate is an impressive 57% showing the addictiveness of the service.

Added to this, Flubit was recently crowned London Web Summit Startup Competition winners ahead of hundreds of entrants from around Europe. The reason for the award was “potential over the next 24 months” which reflects a belief in their ability to make a major impact on the ecommerce landscape.

User and merchant growth throughout 2013

Their main focus from the summer onwards will be user acquisition and developing strategic partnerships to drive growth. For instance, their partnership with Invisible Hand will see the Flubit ‘demand’ functionality incorporated into the service – this launches in May. This coincides with the launch of Flubit’s own browser-based bookmarklet – BuyBar® – giving shoppers the ability to create Flubit demands while browsing shopping sites without needing to visit Flubit.com.

Improvements to their mobile platform are due for release with of 35% of Flubit orders come from smartphones. They will also be accelerating growth through channels such as PR, digital advertising and social media.

For sellers, they’ve announced partnerships with eSellerPro, Seller Express and ChannelGrabber which will allow their customers to sell on Flubit with ease.

They also have pre-built integration solutions for users of Linnworks, Magento and Volusion and can integrate via API or FTP

Getting set up as a Flubit seller is totally free, with no monthly or listing fees. They make their money by adding a variable commission to your product base price when you make a sale: dynamic and success-based.

To find out more about selling on Flubit, go to www.weflubit.com.

23 Responses

  1. Can you tell me who gave you those figures I’m extremely skeptical in particular with the “32% of offers they’ve sent out have converted into orders”?

  2. Tony,

    You seem to be confused. Peter M doesn’t work for Tamebay and therefore holds no responsibility for publishing this article.

    I’m sorry you think the blog lacks credibility. I can only remind you that reading Tamebay isn’t compulsory and you are very welcome to rely on more credible sources in future.

    Best,

    Dan Wilson

  3. guess the commentators have to individually identify themselves too now.

    I’m just a part time eBay seller, I turn over about 30k a year, and i’ve been following TameBay for sometime. I like the site, so yes i’ll defend it, but no I don’t work for them.

    I don’t mind your comments, but what I don’t understand the solution. I hadn’t heard of Flubit before but i’ve done a little research and it looks like they’re an up and coming marketplace who’ve managed to get on some big channels (they are even front page of the esellerpro site as above, so must be legit somewhat!).

    What is the solution? Let’s say Ebay and Flubit both release stats, only they hold those stats, so how do you want Tamebay to verify them? No external source has any more official proof these are true.

    I’m just trying to understand what you want Tamebay to do?

  4. The only stats that matter to Tamebay visitors who also happen to be sellers are the sales made by those sellers who visit.

    Surely we are all grown up enough to take stats provided by marketplaces with a pinch of salt. Does anybody seriously believe any of them?

    I could launch a promotion tomorrow and my sales stats would skyrocket. ebay do this constantly. No doubt Flubit do too. But would I make any money? And do any of Flubit’s sellers?

    Like the “ebid” saga we need posts from actual Flubit sellers and so far we have not had any.

  5. We send a feed to Flubit and it generated steady sales pre Christmas though less so since (we are selling seasonal stock). The concept suits larger items therefore the sales figures are quoted are achievable though it’s not ideal for the lower priced items we generally sell. The conversion rate for offers is probably slightly less than we achieved.

    I like the concept and there are no fees unless you sell so it’s worth looking at.

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