On their 5th Birthday is OnBuy Close To Global Expansion in 2022?

Regular readers will know that we are big advocates for UK based marketplace OnBuy. We have covered their incredible journey from the early days and continue to watch them grow from strength to strength. Today also coincides with their 5th Birthday! So congratulations to Cas and the team on what they have achieved in just 5 years!

Earlier this year we had the chance to interview OnBuy CEO Cas Paton where we got to dig into the details around their success and also their global expansion plans, especially those for the US, as we knew that was what the majority of our readers were interested in.

When we asked Cas specifically about OnBuy becoming a new marketplace for US sellers and buyers to use he told us “Very soon – watch this space!”. Since that time we have covered a number of different stories from OnBuy including their very recent integration with ShipStation which could be a clue in itself as ShipStation is a hugely popular choice amongst eCommerce sellers across the US and is part of the Stamps.com empire.

However, there has been no concrete announcement on their expansion to the US and beyond.

OnBuy Global Expansion Clues

As it stands right now we have no insider knowledge from OnBuy and this is purely speculation. But when we were covering their most recent news around the Christmas rush and panic buying, we noticed a few clues on their website, namely on their partner’s page.

When looking through the OnBuy Partners list a couple of interesting companies stood out to us. The first is FB Flurry. Listed as ‘Coming Soon’ on the OnBuy partners page the company description gives us more of an insight into what they do.

“Coming Soon – USA – FB Flurry, a US-based technology-driven fulfillment and customer care service, provides scalable solutions to support your growing business. With its two US fulfillment centers, Flurry supports your business 7 days per week. Whether you ship 10 orders per day or 10,000, Flurry has a custom solution just for you.”

As with any marketplace trying to take market share away from Amazon, having a great logistics and fulfillment network is crucial, and to get started partnering with specialists who already do this is the only way to go.

This hints to us that OnBuy may have agreed on a partnership with FB Flurry allowing UK sellers to utilize their fulfillment centers in order to fulfill orders from US customers.

Another clue comes from one of their shipping partners which is also coming soon which is listed as FedEx Cross Border. This one probably takes less interpretation but the description is as follows:

“Coming Soon – FedEx Cross Border offers delivery solutions that connect UK retailers with over 220 countries and territories across the globe. Their comprehensive understanding of these destinations’ distinctive delivery services and strong relationships with trusted final mile delivery partners closes the gap between businesses and their customers worldwide. FedEx Cross Border’s flexible delivery solutions respond to the needs of both retailers and consumers, ensuring their expectations are met (and surpassed) and all barriers to international trade are overcome.“

The final clue is set even further field for OnBuy than the US is and that is another partnership listed as coming soon with First Global. First Global is an end-to-end logistics provider that covers Australia and New Zealand.

“Coming Soon – Australia and New Zealand’s leading end-to-end eCommerce logistics provider. Offering carrier management system, eCommerce 3PL, pick and pack, domestic and cross border shipping solutions from AU and NZ. FGL emerged from an airfreight forwarder and customs clearance company to be the leading independent Oceania eCommerce logistics provider.“

This is an exciting prospect for not just OnBuy themselves but for multi-channel eCommerce sellers everywhere. OnBuy has experienced incredible growth year after year, they have bolstered out an impressive executive team, and under the guidance of Cas, appear to be doing things properly.

Whilst there has been no official announcement, Cas said the US was coming soon and they have clearly been lining partners up to help facilitate everything sellers would need, so maybe in 2022 US merchants will have a new marketplace to experiment with.

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