LetsBuyIt France SARL
LetsBuyIt Group AG: First Day of Trading
LetsBuyIt France SARL / Key word(s): Miscellaneous LetsBuyIt Group AG ('LBI', 'the Group' or 'the Company') First Day of Trading The Directors of LBI are pleased to announce the commencement of trading on the Open Market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The Company will trade under the symbol B49.
Overview LetsBuyIt is all about providing the next generation online shopping comparison experience for both retailers and shoppers with its focus on a fully automated State of the Art operating system, social networking tools and a new outlook for the online shopping industry. Thanks to its advanced technology which has been developed over the last three LetsBuyIt is able to break and change the old and out-dated Cost per Click ('CPC') model which has haunted the small merchants for many years, to a fixed fee model, therefore taking the lead in a highly lucrative market. The Company has taken the move to become a public company on the Open Market in order to have better access to funding which will allow it to execute its strategic plans to expand into other European countries.
History of the Brand In 2007, the assets, including all domain names, a worldwide registered trademark, the ant logo, together with a highly regarded brand name, were purchased by the Group with the view to re-launch LetsBuyIt.com as a price comparison platform. The team spent the next two years creating and populating the website, while marketing the LetsBuyIt brand into Europe, with much success. LetsBuyIt.com was re launched in 2009 in three countries – Germany, France and the UK, where it had traditionally been the most successful.
Market Advantage The Company also offers a unique fixed price small merchant platform which defines LetsBuyIt from its competitors; allowing boutique retailers the opportunity to control their overheads and not have to implement complex online sales tracking systems, whilst still receiving exposure on a major price comparison shopping website. Finally, the Group believes that its focus on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) which it carries out in partnership with a leading online marketing company, will mean that more shoppers will naturally be directed, via Google or any other major search engines, to the LetsBuyIt website over time. The websites have also been developed to take advantage of the rising trend in social interactivity, where buyers and browsers can exchange advice and comments about their purchases.
Operations LetsBuyIt is currently active in France, Germany and the United Kingdom with three different website versions:
www.letsbuyit.fr
Strategy and Reason for Listing LetsBuyIt is ready to capitalise on the huge market potential created by the Internet. In 2009, online retail sales in Western Europe reached a value of EUR 68 billion and are projected to grow to EUR 114 billion by 2014 (Compound Annual Growth Rate, 'CAGR' 2009-2014 +11%). LetsBuyIt's strategy is to derive revenues from three distinct streams, these being: Affiliation: One of the main sources of revenues for LetsBuyIt comes through its affiliation relationship with the many thousands of merchants who wish to sell their products online. The merchants provide LetsBuyIt with their catalogues of products, and LetsBuyIt then aggregates all the catalogues from the different merchants so that users have a larger pool of products to choose from at the same time. Once a shopper finds the product he wants, the LetsBuyIt website gives him a list of the merchants selling it. If the user buys the product, then LetsBuyIt gets a commission on the purchase. Direct Merchant Platform (DMP): Unique to LetsBuyIt, the Company is targeting small merchants and boutique stores who would not normally have success on large Price Comparison sites, by offering them a solution to display their catalogue on the website for a fixed monthly fee, regardless the number of sales or clicks they receive. LetsBuyIt offers visibility to the merchants and generates traffic to their sites. Targeted Advertising: LetsBuyIt displays banners on its website where publishers can advertise. LetsBuyIt works closely with all the major online affiliates, of which there are around 15 within Europe which manage the product catalogues for all the major online retailers in the world. The Group constantly uploads the affiliates' catalogues and automatically categorises the products for its own websites, which are then shown to shoppers with the relevant offers and pricing. Unique to the market, this is a 24-7 fully automated process. Financials
The capital employed in the Company as at 31 May 2011 was EUR18,110,995. Of this amount, EUR9,352,714 relates to the investment made directly by the Company over the past three years in the development of the Letsbuyit brand, and the development of the state of the art technical infrastructure which now allows the Company to move forward rapidly and consolidate and build upon the significant competitive advantage secured by this investment and development. Major Share Holders LBI comes to the market with a free float of 40%. The remaining shares are held as follows:
Founders, Management, WhiteWeb – through Alpha Securities Fund 40% Profile: LetsBuyIt.com is a platform providing online price comparison and social shopping services.
LetsBuyIt is currently active in France, Germany and United Kingdom with three different website versions. LetsBuyIt allows customers to purchase products at the lowest possible price by providing on its website all the actual best practices of online shopping. The aim of the Company is to become the leading shopping portal and an e-commerce online community meeting point. Indeed, distinctive features of LetsBuyIt are the social tools which give customers the opportunity to exchange opinions on their buying experiences, products etc. For Further Information, please Contact: pr@letsbuyit.com
LetsBuyIt Group AG +33 1 83 64 77 38
Leander (Investor Relations and Media Relations, UK) +44 (0)7795 168 157
Stoffels Kommunikation (Media Relations, Germany) +49 40 398 077 131 End of Corporate News 07.09.2011 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP – a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. DGAP’s Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Media archive at www.dgap-medientreff.de and www.dgap.de |
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