Vol. 2, No. 2
June 2013
www.QuiBids.com
QuiBids Quarterly FILL ‘ER UP!
QuiBids merchandiser Jeremy Ussery fills Jacob Curley’s water bottle at the company’s cosponsored water stop at the Oklahoma City National Memorial Marathon. Curley finished the marathon in 3:29:50. PHOTO BY ERIK GAUSE
QuiBids raises funds for tornado relief
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hortly after severe weather leveled homes and displaced people around central Oklahoma in May, more than 200 QuiBids customers raised $3,543.22 by bidding in four specifically designated charity auctions QuiBids created and promoted to support relief efforts. Soon after, the money was donated to the American Red Cross of Central and Western Oklahoma. While QuiBids’ offices are located
in northwest Oklahoma City, seven employees commute there from Moore, which bore the worst of May’s severe weather. The company’s connection to the suburb is direct and unfortunately one of those employees’ home was among the many reduced to rubble. He and his family were unharmed, and our company — already grieving the news of loss among our neighbors — set about helping the people of Moore get back on their feet.
In addition to the charity auctions, the leadership at our email service provider iContact (which is headquartered in North Carolina) generously volunteered to match its employees’ giving up to $2,500. And aside from taking care of QuiBids’ displaced employee and his family, QuiBids will donate additional funds to those affected by the tornado to make sure their needs are being provided for in this difficult time.
Read the five profiles of QuiBids customers on pages 2-3
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Why do customers spend time on QuiBids?
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ccording to an internal questionnaire of 1,000 QuiBids customers, we found nearly one half of them first heard about our site from one of our TV commercials, which emphasize the opportunity to win an auction at an extraordinary bargain. And while the lure of a deal attracts customers to QuiBids in the first place, it does not completely explain why many continue to shop and bid on the site after that novelty wears off, nor does it totally capture QuiBids’ appeal, which is as multifaceted as the services it offers. So QuiBids set to work analyzing this and determined five categories of appeal, based on the survey results and our own observations on customer behavior. QuiBids saw these behaviors on the site and where employees interact with customers, including social media and customersupport platforms, and have used them to classify customers into these five profiles.
Casual Shopper
QUIBIDS CUSTOMER PROFILES
While there is a select core of customers who may win less than six auctions a month, some may not win at all. Why do they continue to spend time on QuiBids? One of the most common descriptive acts from customers on QuiBids is that it is “fun” which explains why they stay. It’s not all about winning, it is a worthwhile pastime.
Top 10 cities of active QuiBids customers • NYC: 2,890 • Los Angeles: 1,989 • Chicago: 1,781 • Houston: 1,735 • Toronto: 1,674
• Atlanta: 1,238 • Philadelphia: 1,065 • San Diego: 982 • Orlando: 975 • Dallas: 946
Source: From the QuiBids Facebook page as of June 7, 2013
Gamer About 20% of customers surveyed indicated they have won six or more auctions in the last month. QuiBids auctions — especially auctions for high-end consumer electronics — can get really competitive, lasting for hours and pulling in dozens of bidders. You have to be really involved to be a gamer and still win auctions consistently, so that means participating in a lot of auctions.
Deal-seeker Make no mistake, the end goal of every QuiBidder is a big bargain. Many customers are singularly focused on maximum savings as the end, though, and build strategies toward it like bidding very aggressively or bidding based on their own carefully sculpted budgets. These are our most hardcore bidders, and they often go out of their way to earn free Voucher Bids to stretch their money farther.
Socialite Back-Patter Nearly half of the customers surveyed said the most appealing feature of QuiBids is the feeling they get after winning an auction, and respondents selected “thrilled,” “relieved” and “proud” as the most common words to describe this feeling. It is not uncommon for customers to post photos and videos of their wins to our social profiles. Call it virtual bragging.
In a survey asking our customers what type of leisure activity they prefer, the largest faction of respondents indicated they would play cards or a board game with family or friends. These are the customers who enjoy QuiBids as a social outlet. They compete head-tohead in auctions, share tips and strategy on social media, and congratulate one another on big wins.
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June 2013
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QuiBids in the Community
Drink up, runners! A
PHOTOS BY ERIK GAUSE
A line of QuiBids employees root for runners as they wait to hand off cups of water at the OKC Memorial Marathon. More than 3,000 runners passed through the water stop on their way to the finish line.
fter two years on a waiting list, QuiBids finally got the honor of sponsoring a water stop at the 2013 Oklahoma City National Memorial Marathon in late April. Situated at about mile 20, just around the corner from Classen Curve, QuiBids employees partnered with employees from a local Walgreens store to hand out pretzels, Powerade and water to runners who, by that point, were really tired. They played loud music, cheered on participants and generally enjoyed the beautiful weather and the opportunity to contribute to one of the community’s largest, most fun and meaningful annual events. QuiBids animator Chuck Carson, his wife, and his daughter offer pretzels to runners.
QuiBids employees Kristi McMullen (left), Sara Howell (middle) and Ziggie Oleru prepare shopping carts for the Food Bank clients.
Customer Support Manager Erik Gause wrangles carts after loading a family’s van with groceries. (Photo by John Le)
PHOTOS BY ERIK GAUSE UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED
Merchandiser Chelsea House (left) and Compliance Manager John Le (middle) load groceries into a truck.
Fighting hunger
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Ryan (left) and Adam Gentzler cruise through the water stop en route to a 3:33:48 finish.
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n March, QuiBids added another chapter to its ongoing work with the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, which works to help the 21.4% of Oklahomans who experienced food insecurity in 2012. Coordinators at the Food Bank’s Food For Kids program put QuiBids in touch with three Oklahoma City-
area families they deemed deserving of aid, and the company got to sponsor a grocery-shopping trip to a local Homeland for them. QuiBidders played with their kids, loaded their groceries up in their cars, and there were a few hugs and tears when everybody had to go home.
QuiBids employees decorate shopping carts.
PLACE POSTAGE HERE
4 NE 10th St., Ste. 242 Oklahoma City, OK 73104
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Letter from the CEO
European expansion continues
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lthough QuiBids have operated in the United became popular Kingdom, France and Gerin Australia and many prior to that. There are Canada quickly — much several advantages an online the same way it did business has over a when we debuted brick-and-mortar the site domestiwhen it comes to cally in 2009 — exinternational expansion across Eupansion, but even rope has been much websites encounslower and steadier. ter obstacles that But that is often the require comprecase when you want hensive solutions to do something MATT — and we had our right the first time. share. Our team arBECKHAM In May, QuiBids chitected a plan to began hosting auctions in It- meet those challenges headaly. We did the same in Aus- on, and that is what we did. tria the month before, and we You cannot simply auc-
tion the same products in every other country that you do in the United States, so the QuiBids.com European operations opened a small office in Malta to partner directly with European vendors and manufacturers. The QuiBids auction model is a little complicated even when you are learning in your native language, so we hired native speakers to translate the site’s explanatory sections and provide support to new customers. We want to see happy QuiBids customers all across the globe, and continued ex-
Get in touch with QuiBids! www.QuiBids.com (405) 253-3883 4 NE 10th St., Ste. 242 Oklahoma City, OK 73104 Jill Merritt Public Relations Director jmerritt@quibids.com
pansion across Europe is our most immediate goal.