Auction.ph surpasses 1M users

By Lawrence Casiraya
INQUIRER.net

Korean-owned Auction.ph says it has already registered more than one million users after two years operating as an online marketplace.

The company said it has surpassed the one million mark this month and expects to end the year with 1.2 million registered users.

In a statement, Auction.ph reported its membership increased by more than 200 percent for the third quarter alone. Average number of daily page views rose more than double to more than 180,000 from the previous quarter.

The site has stepped up marketing efforts since the start of the year, signing up a celebrity endorsement, promos via SMS and other offline activities aimed at attracting users.

For the third quarter alone, the site recorded more than 600,000 new registered users.

“The sharp increase in the number of our users can be attributed to our online promos and events. In addition, we’re supporting these online promos offline," said Jenny Kim, the site's vice president and chief marketing officer, via email.

Auction.ph received P150, 000 in capital from two Japanese investors in March and expects another round of funding before the year-end.

User registration on the site is still free and sellers and buyers are not yet charged transaction fees. The strategy is to grow the user base first in the first two to three years.

“Our numbers continue to grow, which is a strong indicator of e-commerce boom in the near future," Kim said.

The company, which holds offices at Clark Ecozone in Pampanga, was founded by CEO and president Oh Hyuk, who started a similar auction site in Korea that was eventually acquired by US online retailer eBay