It’s only been a couple of months since OnBuy officially launched in Europe (although they were kind of operating in stealth mode a little before then), but they are now reporting +30% month on month growth on the continent.
This is really transformational for OnBuy (and the retailers that sell on the platform). Notable milestones include 20 new European marketplaces launched which has resulted on the addition of £50million in additional GMV in just nine months!
And the important point is that this is just the start of the expansion story for OnBuy, it’s not about short term wins to please the shareholders, it’s about positioning the marketplace for the future with the prize being a solid foundation to generate hundreds of millions in sales in the coming year.
I’ve spoken to the OnBuy CEO Cas Paton a few times this year, and been slightly frustrated by his promise to wait because big things are happening behind the scenes. My ‘Please Cas, give me something I can publish’ pleas have been met with ‘Just hang on while we get the pieces in place’ answers (I don’t think Cas will mind me sharing this), but now I’m starting to see the results of OnBuy’s year of hard work and investments and I’m liking what I’m seeing.
Cas has said that short term gains have been sacrificed in 2025 in favour of long term impact in 2026 and beyond with the prize being profitable, scalable, growth. And perhaps the most astounding factoid, they’ve self funded their European expansion without having to go back to investors to raise additional finance – OnBuy is profitable and I’m looking at 2026 and all I can see is them turning to very profitable.
If you’re not selling on OnBuy, or if you tried them in the early days and didn’t realise the sales you were hoping for, then 2026 is the year you need to take another look at the marketplace and invest some time aligning your business with their goals to unlock their European potential.
