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Buy4Now hits profitability and looks abroad
Monday, May 20 2002
by Matthew Clark


Irish on-line retailer Buy4Now has announced its first profitable quarter ahead
of expectations, as the firm sets its sights on the international stage.

Buy4Now, which operates the Web site buy4now.ie, said on Monday that it had an
operating profit for the first quarter of 2002 of EUR1,473. While the figure was
relatively small, the firm pointed out that it had in fact reached operational
profitability two quarters before it planned to do so. 



"We have proven that you can actually do it (become profitable) in the market,"
explained Ali Murdoch, chief executive of Buy4Now, to ElectricNews.Net. "Buy4Now
met all of its business goals for the year and achieved its first profitable
quarter, six months ahead of the original business plan," he added. 



Murdoch went on to say that for the upcoming year, the company is forecasting
profits after re-investment in the region of EUR100,000. For the following year
the company is looking to reach EUR500,000 in operational profits from its
on-line retail business. "We see massive growth in the next 12 months for the
on-line business," Murdoch said.



Buy4Now also said that adjusted turnover in its on-line business was up by 85
percent on the year to EUR11.1 million for the 12-month period to March 2002. 




Buy4Now's losses for the 2001-2002 year came to EUR548,000, which included
considerable investments in once-off software development in the region of
EUR250,000. But this too beat the firm's budgeted loss of EUR730,000 for the
period. 



Other important figures showed that the Irish B2C Internet retailer saw its site
traffic triple over the last year, with an average of 200,000 visits per month
and 2.5 million page impressions, "positioning Buy4Now as one of Ireland's
leading B2C sites alongside Ryanair.com and PaddyPower.com."



Currently 18 stores trade on Buy4Now's Web sites and the business plans to add
new retail stores to the Buy4Now family over the next year. AIB Bank has become
latest entrant to the company's list of clients and partners, a list that include
well-established retailers such as Superquinn, Easons, Atlantic Homecare and
Arnotts Department Store.

 

Importantly, the company announced a new plan that will also see it enter the
international market with the support of Enterprise Ireland. Buy4Now, which has
developed its own technology in-house, is now attempting to remodel its core
software so that it can be sold internationally to other companies looking to
establish similar types of businesses. Enterprise Ireland is supporting the
company's EUR1.1 million scheme by offering Buy4Now a 30 percent subsidy on the
cost of re-developing its software. 



Buy4Now's business is based on what is described as the in-store-based picking
model, which means that the company does not maintain a warehouse where it keeps
its inventory. Instead it collects goods from actual retail locations to deliver
to consumers, a model that it expects will be popular in other markets. "The
downturn has actually created a gap in the market for what we can offer,"
explained Murdoch. "It's been proven that the warehouse model doesn't really
work." Buy4Now will target possible customers in Europe and in the US to sell
its software to once the re-development plan is completed.  



Currently Buy4Now employs 40 in Ireland and can be found at HREF="http://www.buy4now.ie">http://www.buy4now.ie.