Flubit have announced that from today they will only accept user ‘Demands’ with an amazon.co.uk URL.
Flubit’s decision is in response to an Amazon URL being used for the majority of the 100,000+ Demands they have ever received. By streamlining their service to solely beat Amazon prices, they will be able to send offers back to users much quicker and significantly increase the volume of Demands the site can handle.
Since launching last September, Flubit have hosted over £1m GMV of transactions. These have effectively been diverted from other ecommerce sites to their own platform and merchants.
This success has come from offering online shoppers a unique and addictive service (their average customer has already placed 3.5 orders).
Buying on Flubit requires users to state the product they want by creating a Demand. This is done by copying & pasting the link of a product page from any online store, or using the recently launched bookmarklet. Flubit then match this to a product in their 3m+ catalogue, create the user a private offer from one of their merchants and host the resulting transaction.
Flubit’s catalogue already has exceptional overlap with Amazon’s because most of their merchants are Amazon sellers. The strategy change allows Flubit to get the most out of this catalogue, and take advantage of the lower prices merchants send them.
What this mean for Flubit sellers?
If you sell on Flubit, there will be no operational impact for you and their 0% up-front fee structure remains the same. The only difference is that all future Flubit orders will have been diverted from Amazon, and users won’t be able to Demand using a URL from your site. If you send Flubit inventory that isn’t listed on Amazon, this can no longer be sold on Flubit but you don’t need to remove it from your feed.
If you’d like to sell on Flubit or learn more, register your interest at weflubit.com.
15 Responses
I’m obviously missing something:
If you sell on Amazon, you are not allowed to offer better prices elsewhere on-line. So how can you be both an Amazon seller and undercut the best Amazon price?
Not exactly on subject but a few months ago “Bubbles” was mentioned several times on Tamebay. Whatever happened to “Bubbles”?
It’s still out there. Not sure we’ve heard any “news” from them.
Chris, I know you are always understandably hard on alternative marketplaces like eBid but do you happen to know how Flubit compares to them or other small marketplaces in terms of GMV?
Also if most of the sellers on Flubit are Amazon sellers, Flubit only accept Amazon products, prices are lower on Flubit, and sales are being diverted from Amazon does this mean price parity went out the window?
Basically you are pricing within the margin available between Amazon and Flubit which will possibly be up to 10%.
However how much Flubit actually charge their sellers for each transaction seems very opaque indeed – anybody have a worked example?
There seem to be several different pricing models on the table for sellers based on the T&Cs.
As for Amazon it is quite simple to predict – if Flubit start to materially affect the Amazon sales machine they WILL react.
Be prepared to bail out or face the wrath of Bezos….
I am not convinced at this strategy.
Most Amazon customers shop there as they have bought in to Amazon’s eco system. For example:
i) They are used to navigating the site
ii) Know there is a vast range of products available
iii) Can find what they are looking for
iv) Credit card info is already stored
v) 1-click purchasing & Amazon prime for faster checkouts and deliveries
vi) Good customer service on the whole
Most Amazon customers do not shop around to hunt for the best prices. So why would they:
i) Go to the trouble of signing up with Flubit who is relatively unknown
ii) Have to wait for a demand to be met if at all before their order is shipped
I just don’t really get it. For the record, we have approached them for more information so we can consider trialling it (awaiting response our acknowledgement). However I do have serious doubts whether this is a viable and sustainable business model.
They say the reason for restricting it to Amazon is because that is where the majority of their demands come from. I am surprised as there are often cheaper offerings for many products elsewhere on the web for many products.
Steve
You are probably correct Steve and many people will stay with Amazon because they are both familiar and comfortable with it and they find the prices acceptable.
However never under-estimate the liking of the British consumer to think they have ‘got a bargain’.
Whether Flubit will gain sufficient traction to grow and become a significant player is open to question but we welcome competition to the established channels from new players like them if the sums add up for us.
The Best thing to do when we hear about new marketplace is to give it a go. Few years back I was trading Beauty and Toiletries on eBay. Din’t believe I would be selling on Toothbrush, Toothpaste or Soap on Amazon. Now I am getting more sales through Amazon compared to that of eBay.
You won’t know until you try !