US-based online retailer Buy.com is expected to recruit a sales
team as it prepares to launch in the UK.
The company is rolling out dedicated services worldwide and plans
ventures in Canada, France, Germany and Netherlands as well as the UK.
It is currently looking for a head of sales to oversee its UK
advertising operation.
Buy.com’s expansion is backed by eVentures, the new-media investment
company which is a joint venture between Japan’s Softbank and Rupert
Murdoch’s News Corp.
A spokesman for eVentures confirmed that Buy.com was planning a
UK-specific site and would be hiring an advertising agency, but he could
not provide further details. The company is also looking for a head of
consumer marketing.
The online retailer was formed in 1997 to sell computer hardware and
software and has since moved into books, videos, music and computer
games, and is challenging Amazon.com. To attract customers it sells at
cost price, claiming that it can make all its money through advertising.
It had a turnover of around pounds 75 million last year and there is
speculation it may float.
Analysts say Buy.com has built up good brand recognition but its service
is perceived as ’patchy’.
