British technology company WeShop presents itself as the world’s first community-owned social e-commerce platform and offers buyers shares in the group with every purchase.
The company plans to sell up to 90 percent of its sales to end consumers and is aiming to be listed on the technology-heavy Nasdaq index in New York within the next twelve months in order to take on the dominance of retail giants such as Amazon.
Buyers of the platform, which lists retail chains such as Asos, Selfridges, Net-A-Porter, The Body Shop, eBay, B&Q and Made.com, receive 20 percent of each purchase price as investment shares.
Purchases made through referrals on the platform also offer 10% of the product value in shares. Buyers can also increase their share further when they refer new members by being paid 1% of the value spent by the new member in shares.
According to CEO Richard Griffiths, WeShop is the first company of its kind to “drive the belief in the democratization of sharing.”
He told the PA news agency the idea would be “disruptive on many levels” in the retail sector.
He said: “The way we shop has changed dramatically over the last decade thanks to rapid technological advances.
“While we are seeing dramatic growth in online shopping platforms and their profits, none of them are designed to deliver value to the people who keep them running: shoppers.
“That’s why WeShop was created to create a comprehensive shopping platform owned by the community.”
Griffiths, a private investor in many sectors and former chairman of music publisher Greensleeves Records, said he had the idea for a community-owned buying platform ten years ago.
“I find it completely unfair that the big technology and e-commerce companies have created enormous valuations for the benefit of a few people and their shareholders, but all the value has been created by their users,” he said.
Giving shoppers the right to decide where they shop is “fair and just and means redistributing wealth into the hands of the people who created it,” he said.
With investments of £20 million to date and major backers such as Alex Chesterman, founder and CEO of Cazoo, Betfair co-founder Andrew Black, and former Formula 1 driver Nigel Mansell and his son Leo, the group is preparing for an IPO by the end of the first quarter of 2023.
Mr Griffiths said he did not rule out a dual listing in London but believed the Nasdaq was “the right home for it”.
The company has already hired lawyers and consultants in advance of the IPO, and investors can begin selling their shares after 12 months of ownership.
Griffiths expressed confidence that the IPO would go ahead as planned, but added that if the IPO was delayed, the group could offer to buy buyers’ shares in cash after the 12-month lock-up period, but this could not be guaranteed.
The company has been running a test with 4,000 buyers of the app since the beginning of the year and aims to gain around 100,000 members within the first two to three months after launch.
Mr Griffiths said: “Imagine if Amazon had done this right from the start. The wealth created by Amazon would have been shared among the people who made the company successful – its users.
“In fact, the world could look very different now.”
