Press Release
Matthew Van Veen
Ubuy Limited
New E-commerce Technology developed in New Zealand
Monday, 8 December 2003
The Ubuy Shopping Community project is a first for New Zealand in terms of its approach to providing Online Shopping
services, creating the perfect marketplace to foster e-commerce in New Zealand’s predominantly small and medium business
environment.
Already the website has a diverse number of merchants with hundreds of products ranging from Charlies Orange Juice
through to Personalised Puzzles and even Plasma Televisions, making it a perfect destination for Christmas shoppers.
The Community provides free merchant facilities to businesses that register with the site, taking a small commission on
every sale. “We believe this creates a win-win business relationship situation” sales Dean Hall, Managing Director of
DHD Limited who developed the software for Ubuy, “revenue is only generated by increasing sales for the merchants – so
the company is 100% committed to making the perfect selling environment for every merchant.”
All functions of the website have been designed with the New Zealand environment in mind, recognising the unique
conditions that small businesses face. “The site is designed to allow even the smallest business to take its first steps
into the e-commerce world without the big risk and big dollars” comments Hall. Indeed, the business itself has been
development on a shoestring budget with collaboration between Managing Director of Ubuy, Matt Van Veen and Hall,
literally crafted out of “late nights and lots of coffee.”
Ubuy believes its strength lies in providing a safe and secure way for increasingly security savvy Internet consumers to
buy products online from small merchants. As Ubuy processes the order, and holds the funds till delivery is complete,
Hall believes the entire Ubuy system is different to any other similar systems approach in New Zealand and possibly
abroad.
“Many times we considered opting for the tried-and-true method of providing e-commerce facilities to business for a
fixed fee, but we believe the current cost of selling online was restricting many small businesses from getting
involved.”
By providing an independently managed sales transaction Ubuy is able to offer new levels of security to its customers,
at the same time as taking the cost and complexity of operating an Internet based credit card facility away from
businesses. “There were many other system elements of the system that we hoped to implement, but we found the market
just isn’t quite ready for too much change” commented Hall.
[ENDS]