Closing on approximately $5,000,000 in round financing from existing shareholders, TeamBuy.ca has announced that they will be re-investing this funding into offering Canadians additional shopping experiences via their newly launched Kids & Baby and Home categories, while also growing their existing Local, Products, and Travel channels.
A trend leader in the ‘social-buying’ space, TeamBuy was the first to launch an eCommerce application on its Facebook page last October. New offerings will include email customization, allowing consumers to manage how TeamBuy.ca Features are presented to them; making shopping even more personalized and aligned with their preferences. Merchant partners will also receive mobile and tablet apps to support a more seamless redemption experience, offering them comprehensive post-deal analytics and loyalty tools that will assist them in optimizing their promotions. TeamBuy’s research indicates the impact could be as great as when Amazon, eBay and iTunes arrived on the scene.
“We’ve re-imagined the daily deal business model to fit a customer who is demanding more comprehensive and customized shopping,” says Ghassan Halazon, CEO, TeamBuy.ca. “Our current vertical offerings already account for nearly 35 per cent of our business and with the launch of the new Kids & Baby and Home sections on TeamBuy, we anticipate that this will rise to at least half of our overall product mix in the year ahead.”
Consumers have more channels today than ever before to identify, locate and purchase what they want, when they want it and at the right price. Internet shopping has changed both the way businesses market the online and consumer behaviour. More Canadians visit their favourite stores online or rely on Facebook to research new products and services in advance of a purchase1. The growing social web and advancements in mobile shopping technology and the ‘social-buying’ space are driving this shift in consumer behavior, with TeamBuy.ca at the forefront of that change in Canada.
A true Canadian success story, over the last two years TeamBuy has focused on increasing and expanding its offerings moving the site from the familiar ‘Deal a Day’ model towards that of an online shopping destination – one that allows shoppers to “pull” features that they are interested in, rather than just getting them “pushed” at them. TeamBuy anticipates that the growing impact of social media on shopping is set to disrupt traditional models of consumer behavior, as we again see shifts in the way people shop, share and choose brands in the ‘social-buying’ space.
Already companies, such as American Apparel, that participated in TeamBuy feature events over the last year have seen an exponential growth in sales as well as repeat and referral customers after participation. After experiencing a positive return on investment following a pilot Fall promotion, American Apparel returned to partner with TeamBuy during the busy holiday season offering users a week-long diversified merchandising campaign. Combined, the two campaigns sold almost 30,000 buys reaching close to $800,000 in revenue.
Starting with an investment offer from CBC’s The Dragon’s Den in 2009, in just two short years, the social team-buying site has grown and continues to grow rapidly. Canadian entrepreneurs looking for a little inspiration can catch the TeamBuy.ca update show on the new season of The Dragon’s Den on February 29th.
