The world’s first community-owned shopping platform, WeShop, has launched. Taking the concept of retail shopping on social media to its own platform, the premise is that shoppers gain shares in the business every time they make a purchase.
Up to 90% of the business is expected to be given to shoppers and expects to rival retail titans like Amazon with a community approach that will see it listed on the Nasdaq tech-heavy index in New York in 12 months.
For shoppers, the platform will host a range of retail brands, including Asos, Selfridges, Net-A-Porter, The Body Shop, eBay, B&Q, and Made.com. The shoppers will earn 20% of every purchase price as investment shares.
Chairman Richard Griffiths said WeShop is a first-of-its-kind venture “pioneering the belief of share democratisation”.
“The way we shop has changed dramatically in the last 10 years thanks to rapid advances in technology. While we’ve seen the dramatic growth of online shopping platforms and their profits, none of them are designed to benefit the people who keep them going, the shoppers. That’s why WeShop was born, building a totally shoppable platform that is owned by the community.”
Private investor and former chairman of music publisher Greensleeves Records, Mr. Griffiths said, “It strikes me as completely unfair that big tech and eCommerce have created enormous valuations for the benefit of a few people and their shareholders, but all of that value has been built by their users.”
He continued that he expects the concept of allowing shoppers to own where they shop is “fair and it’s equitable and it’s a redistribution of wealth into the hands of the people who created it”.
Find out more about WeShop here.
