Ebuyer

Last updated

Ebuyer
Type Private
Industry Computers
Computer hardware
Software
Electronics
Consumer goods
Gadgets
Founded1999
Founders Paul Cusack
Headquarters
Howden, East Riding of Yorkshire
,
England
ProductsComputer hardware, software, peripherals, gaming, electronics, accessories, DVDs and more
Revenue£174 Million (2022)
OwnerRealtime Holdings Limited
Number of employees
238 (2022)
Website http://www.ebuyer.com/

Ebuyer is an electronic commerce retailer based in Howden, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is the largest independent online retailer of computer and electrical goods in the United Kingdom.[ citation needed ] The Ebuyer website is the 210th most visited site in the United Kingdom [Alexa.com ranking] and has 4 million registered customers. [1]

Contents

History

Ebuyer was founded in March 2000 in Sheffield by Paul Cusack, Mike Naylor, Steve Kay, Neeraj Patel, and Adam Ashmore – with startup capital of £250,000 from Paul Cusack, its annual turnover was in excess of £220 million by September 2005. [2] Stuart Carlisle was its managing director (CEO) from 2014 until resigning in 2015. [3] Paul Cusack resigned in December 2006. Ebuyer (UK) Ltd turnover for 2022 (Year Ended 31 December 2022) was £

Ebuyer (UK) Limited was owned by The West Retail Group from 2004 to 2023. West Retail is also the parent company of Wren Kitchens and the ultimate controlling party is Malcolm Healey. [4]

As of April 2023, Ebuyer was purchased from The West Retail Group by investor Mark Reed and Richard Marsden via Realtime Holdings Limited. Richard Marsden was appointed the CEO. [5]

Security

In July 2008, Gavin Brent, from Holywell in Flintshire, North Wales admitted stealing goods worth £20,000 from the firm before returning the goods, and demanding full refunds. [6] Brent, whose suspicious transactions were spotted by Ebuyer's security team, went on to conduct an online campaign against the company and the investigation. This included menacing Ebuyer staff and a police officer from Brent's now-defunct blog. [7]

Barton Town F.C sponsorship

Ebuyer is the official floodlight and short sponsor of Barton Town F.C. from Barton-upon-Humber.

Controversy

During 2005 Ebuyer had significant customer service problems. Sheffield Trading Standards received 282 complaints about the company, and the customer service phone number had been removed from its website. After this, the firm promised to improve its service, and restored the customer service number to its site. Average daily telephone wait times are published. [8]

On 28 November 2011, eBuyer ran a £1 promotion via email, offering new deals on the hour until midnight. eBuyer angered customers when their website was unable to handle the extra traffic, causing it to crash. [9] When the website did work, many customers were emailed after successfully ordering and paying for items, only to be told they were out of stock. Many customers vented their anger at the company on their Facebook page, however eBuyer ran a campaign on their customer forums in an attempt to counter the bad publicity.

In December 2013, eBuyer posted pictures to Facebook of its staff wearing Christmas themed jumpers. However, a Facebook user named Phil spotted that one of the images contained a leaderboard in the background that suggested that eBuyer staff were rated on the number of returns that they reject. eBuyer responded to these accusations by stating that these were return merchandise authorizations (RMAs) avoided by providing technical advice. [10]

Related Research Articles

E-commerce is the activity of electronically buying or selling products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. E-commerce is the largest sector of the electronics industry and is in turn driven by the technological advances of the semiconductor industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wholesaling</span> Sale of goods or merchandise to retailers rather than end consumers

Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers and related subordinated services. In general, it is the sale of goods in bulk to anyone, either a person or an organization, other than the end consumer of that merchandise. Wholesaling is buying goods in bulk quantity, usually directly from the manufacturer or source, at a discounted rate. The retailer then sells the goods to the end consumer at a higher price making a profit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Retail</span> Sale of goods and services

Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and then sells in smaller quantities to consumers for a profit. Retailers are the final link in the supply chain from producers to consumers.

Discounts and allowances are reductions to a basic price of goods or services.

Dixons Retail plc was one of the largest consumer electronics retailers in Europe. In the United Kingdom, the company operated Currys, Currys Digital, PC World, Dixons Travel and its service brand Knowhow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Store-within-a-store</span>

A store-within-a-store, also referred to as shop-in-shop, is an agreement in which a retailer rents a part of the retail space to be used by a different company to run another, independent shop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comet Group</span> Electrical online retailer

Comet Electricals Limited, trading as Comet, is an online electrical retail chain based in the United Kingdom. The company sells consumer electronics and white goods, along with related products and services. Its predecessor, under the same brand name, pioneered the concept of the out-of-town discount warehouse in the United Kingdom.

Bonton Holdings Inc. operating as Bonton is an American digitally native retailer. It was established in 1898 as a department store. Along with Bergner's, Boston Store, Carson's, Elder-Beerman, Herberger's, and Younkers, the retailer is owned by BrandX.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Retail marketing</span>

Once the strategic plan is in place, retail managers turn to the more managerial aspects of planning. A retail mix is devised for the purpose of coordinating day-to-day tactical decisions. The retail marketing mix typically consists of six broad decision layers including product decisions, place decisions, promotion, price, personnel and presentation. The retail mix is loosely based on the marketing mix, but has been expanded and modified in line with the unique needs of the retail context. A number of scholars have argued for an expanded marketing, mix with the inclusion of two new Ps, namely, Personnel and Presentation since these contribute to the customer's unique retail experience and are the principal basis for retail differentiation. Yet other scholars argue that the Retail Format should be included. The modified retail marketing mix that is most commonly cited in textbooks is often called the 6 Ps of retailing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maplin (retailer)</span> British electronics retailer

Maplin Electronics is the trading name of an online retailer of electronic goods in the United Kingdom and Ireland launched in 2019, using the brand of the former company Maplin Electronics Ltd., which operated from 1972 to 2018.

Screwfix is a retailer of trade tools, accessories and hardware products based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1979 as the Woodscrew Supply Company, the company was acquired in July 1999 by Kingfisher plc, which also owns B&Q, and is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

A marketing channel consists of the people, organizations, and activities necessary to transfer the ownership of goods from the point of production to the point of consumption. It is the way products get to the end-user, the consumer; and is also known as a distribution channel. A marketing channel is a useful tool for management, and is crucial to creating an effective and well-planned marketing strategy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cash and carry (wholesale)</span> Type of wholesale

Cash and Carry wholesale represents a type of operation within the wholesale sector.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vendor</span> Supplier of goods or services

In a supply chain, a vendor, supplier, provider or a seller, is an enterprise that contributes goods or services. Generally, a supply chain vendor manufactures inventory/stock items and sells them to the next link in the chain. Today, these terms refer to a supplier of any goods or service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wren Kitchens</span> British designer, manufacturer and retailer of kitchens

Wren Kitchens is a privately owned British designer, manufacturer, and retailer of fitted kitchens, and fitted bedrooms. It has 106 stores.

Golfsmith International Holdings Inc. was an American golf specialty retailer based in Austin, Texas. Each store, along with golfsmith.com, housed a wide selection of golf clubs, shoes, apparel, gadgets and gear from all the major brands as well as proprietary offerings. They also offered custom club fitting, lessons and services for golfers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Made.com</span> British e-commerce company

Made.com was a British e-commerce company based in London that designed and sold furniture and home accessories online. The company was founded in 2010 by serial entrepreneur Ning Li and Brent Hoberman, together with Julien Callède and Chloe Macintosh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Omnichannel retail strategy</span> Business model by which a company integrates both offline and online presences

Omnichannel retail strategy, originally also known in the U.K. as bricks and clicks, is a business model by which a company integrates both offline (bricks) and online (clicks) presences, sometimes with the third extra flips.

Malcolm Stanley Healey is a British entrepreneur.

The retail format influences the consumer's store choice and addresses the consumer's expectations. At its most basic level, a retail format is a simple marketplace, that is; a location where goods and services are exchanged. In some parts of the world, the retail sector is still dominated by small family-run stores, but large retail chains are increasingly dominating the sector, because they can exert considerable buying power and pass on the savings in the form of lower prices. Many of these large retail chains also produce their own private labels which compete alongside manufacturer brands. Considerable consolidation of retail stores has changed the retail landscape, transferring power away from wholesalers and into the hands of the large retail chains.

References

  1. "Information about Ebuyer and its services | Ebuyer.com". www.ebuyer.com. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  2. "Etailers eat away at Dixons". The Guardian . 22 September 2005. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  3. "Ebuyer MD Carlisle exits following board level bust up". The Register . Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  4. Young, Angus (20 February 2020). "East Yorkshire's richest man made eye-watering donation to the Tories". HullLive. Reach. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  5. Laister, David; Johnson, Paul (6 April 2023). "East Yorkshire's richest family sells huge retailer Ebuyer.com". HullLive. Reach. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
  6. "Hacker admits online shop thefts". BBC. 25 July 2008. Archived from the original on 15 February 2009. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  7. "Blogger fined for 'menacing' rant". BBC. 29 April 2008. Archived from the original on 2 May 2008. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  8. "Ebuyer promises to be better". Channel Register. 21 July 2005. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  9. Kunert, Paul (30 November 2011). "eBuyer £1 sale fail: Customers vent fury... on Facebook". The Channel. The Register . Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  10. "Ho, ho, HOLY CR*P, ebuyer! Etailer rates staff on returns REJECTED". The Channel. The Register. 24 December 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2019.