Barclaycard Bespoke has teamed up with Flubit to launch a bespoke offers platform that will launch in the run-up to Christmas.
The service will initially concentrate on the electronics and consumer goods sectors. Retailers who sign up to it before September 1 can integrate with the service for free, waiving the usual £500 fee.
Shoppers who use the service will be able to find their own, private, price for an item. To do so they share the URL of an item they’ve found and want to buy. Flubit then generates a private price for the item in an automated process that takes into account factors including the best price the consumer has found, price fluctuations on that item at a given time, and the minimum price the merchant has already said it is willing to sell it for. Flubit says that in trials, 27% of consumers convert.
The service will mean, says Oliver Gratry, finance and strategy director for Barclaycard Bespoke, that “the retailer doesn’t have to offer an open market discount for a big sale, but the optimum price for that consumer at that time.”
He added: “We know from our data that about 80% of the sales in the electronics and consumer goods sectors are represented by 20% of the market. This enables the 80% of consumers who aren’t seeing the traffic to get offers in front of consumers who are buying.”
Bertie Stephens, founder and chief executive of Flubit, said: “Why wouldn’t a consumer use Barclaycard Bespoke Offers? It’s a no-brainer. You have found what you want online, why wouldn’t you want a bespoke price? We’re trying to change the way online merchants can sell by saving sales they have already lost – since the consumer has already found the best price.”
The service is geared towards giving merchants the amount they have said they will take for an item. If a higher price is achieved, then the difference is split between the platform and the merchant. Merchants can integrate with the site through their API just as with any other marketplace site.
This is the first big partnership for Flubit, a Tech City start-up which launched its own website in September 2012, and opens up its service, currently by invitation only, to a wider customer base.
