Online marketplace, OnBuy.com, is seeking to attract further international retailers after another hugely successful year of growth. Opening up more opportunity to access British customers, the announcement follows OnBuy being recognised in The Financial Times’ 1000 fastest growing companies in Europe listing.
As reported by eMarketer, the lucrative UK consumer market is the third most developed online audience in the world, presenting international entrants with a highly diverse and responsive environment. Revenues have grown by double digits in the past five years as this nation of online shoppers embraces the convenience of shopping online and the savings to be realised by sourcing products from other markets. Companies entering the UK market for ecommerce can expect to see sustained growth as sales are forecast to continue to rise.
Since its inception in 2016, OnBuy has existed to redefine the marketplace model by vowing never to compete with its retailers. Instead, the marketplace prioritises treating them fairly as equal partners, offering them competitive selling fees, PayPal seller protection and dedicated support.
With this proposition, OnBuy has attracted more than 11,000 retailers, hosting over 36 million products on the platform.
There is a strong underlying demand for a marketplace like OnBuy worldwide that champions a ‘retailer first’ approach. Following a recent investment round, OnBuy has been able to invest heavily in product improvements and localised payment options, meaning the company is in a strong position to offer its services to international retailers looking to enter the UK market.
We created OnBuy to provide something unique: a clear, level playing field which allows retailers to thrive. We want to take this model and offer it to overseas retailers wishing to take advantage of targeting the profitable UK consumer market. Our vision is to be ‘the best choice for every customer everywhere’, so we’re keen to start building international relationships and expanding our presence, putting us one step closer to making this vision possible.
– Cas Paton, founder and CEO, OnBuy
2 Responses
Lol. Considering that they make signing up a hassle and require upfront payment before sellers can even access their system, my guess is that they are not getting many uk businesses signing up (and those that do likely leave after a short time) and so they getting desperate.
They keep hounding us by email wanting us to sign up but when we reply to their emails, they never answer. I suspect onbuy will end up like ebid…. a non starter that only survives by making sellers pay up front on joining.
Although OnBuy doesn’t generate as much revenue as the “big two”, it is still worthwhile for us. Their support team are a delight to deal with compared to the pain of interacting with Amazon’s bot-driven support.
But this move to attract international retailers does worry me a bit. If they find reputable ones from the US, Europe etc, that is a good thing, but I worry they might ape Amazon and end up crowding UK sellers out with some of the more ruthless and less ethical Chinese types. OnBuy would lose it’s friendly image if we have to deal with an onslaught of fake reviews, negative feedback, dubious brand ownership claims etc being used as a way for Chinese sellers to push their competitors out in thew way they do on Amazon.