OnBuy have reported a record-breaking start to 2021, confirming that it has seen 800% year on year growth so far in January, beating last year’s sales figures in the first three days of the year. This growth follows an exceptionally successful 2020 which saw OnBuy grow sales and achieve 605% year to date growth, further highlighting the unmatched upward trajectory of the business.
We’ll be taking a closer look at OnBuy in our quarterly review of traffic to the top UK marketplaces, due out in February.
2020 was a landmark year which saw OnBuy grow sales from a run rate of £24 million to over £200 million and monthly users trending at just under 7 million. Thanks to the success of its wide-scale Q4 marketing campaign designed to further support its independent retailers by increasing brand awareness and engagement, OnBuy’s Trustpilot review count also increased by 680% from 2019 to 2020. Now standing at over 20,000 reviews, the company has maintained its 4.6/5 rating, highlighting the increasing popularity of the brand.
OnBuy’s success in 2020 serves as a springboard for 2021, as it embarks on the first phase of its worldwide scale-up into over 140 countries by year-end 2023. The marketplace plans to double its sales by June, putting it on track to achieve over £1bn in GMV by 2023.
To support its meteoric growth, OnBuy has scaled its workforce by over 4x to over 60 full-time staff members. OnBuy plans to expand its offices into Manchester in spring 2021, creating at least another 100 jobs over the next two years to accommodate its worldwide expansion. Next for OnBuy will be a Series B funding round in spring 2021.
“I’m incredibly pleased with these results. We’re committed to bringing more value to our customers through our fast-growing network of retailers – and as we’re a true marketplace, not a retailer, all of our success is shared by the independent businesses that trade through our platform. That’s what makes OnBuy such an attractive prospect for businesses looking to transition to online selling, as well as those dissatisfied with their current ecommerce platform.
We’ll soon be opening our Series B funding round. Having only received £8 million in investment to date and achieved such astonishing growth in just four years, I believe that we are one of the most capital-efficient businesses in operation today.
We aim to secure backers who want to be a part of the ground breaking journey we’re on to change the way the world looks at ecommerce, and those who can support our proven business model to further establish OnBuy as a household name in the UK and in new markets around the world.”
– Cas Paton, founder and CEO, OnBuy
“OnBuy is performing like no other marketplace in the world. Year after year, month after month and even week after week, they layer more and more success on robust foundations – the principles of fairness, transparency and ethics combined with an extremely efficient business model – which will position them as a major global player before long.”
– Mark Pearson, OnBuy Investor, Fuel Ventures
