The Internet auction platform run by Sofina GmbH and previously known as TeleBid has a new name: Swoopo. Founded in 2005 in Germany and launched in December 2007 for the UK market, the ongoing internationalisation of the www.Swoopo.co.uk business model then continued with the launch in Spain in May this year. The company recently announced that Swoopo is about to launch its exciting website in the US.
Managing director Gunnar Piening: “We believe in strong brand names that are universally understandable and recognizable. Some time ago, the name TeleBid ceased to describe our business model accurately. In the early days of our company, all bids needed to be placed via the phone. Since then, our business has changed significantly and phone bids are no longer an essential part of our value chain. Nowadays, almost all bidding activity happens online. “
He continues: “The Swoopo brand and the Swoopo logo will be perceived very positively by our customers and I am sure that within only a short period of time, Swoopo will become a synonym for entertainment shopping businesses like ours.”
Swoopo.co.uk offers high-end, brand-name products at incredible discount prices. Bidding on Swoopo auctions starts at just 7p. With each bid placed the price of the item increases by 7p. Just like in a real auction, where the auctioneer calls “Going, going, gone”, Swoopo gives other bidders the chance to bid again if there’s a bid in the dying seconds. If a bid is placed in the last 20 seconds, the counter gets reset back up to a maximum of 20 seconds. This “resetting” carries on until the countdown reaches zero – i.e. no one has placed a bid in the last twenty seconds. Bids cost 50p each and are sold in packs of 20, 50, 100 or 200. Bids can also be placed over the phone, where the 50p charge just gets added to the phone bill. To help keep track of spending, each auction shows how much has been spent on bids, and how much overall the bidder would save if they won the auction now. The last bidder standing when the counter reaches zero wins the auction – usually at an incredibly low price. The average savings made on Swoopo are 65% of the RRP.
Swoopo auctions tens of thousands of products per month and has close to a million registered users. Swoopo has 40 employees in London and Munich and is headed by Gunnar Piening, who previously worked for the consumer community Ciao.
Auction info www.swoopo.co.uk
