Buystand, a Durham, N.C. e-commerce start-up that aims to fundamentally change the way active lifestyle products are sold online, began beta testing its site Wednesday.
At Buystand, consumers search and browse thousands of active lifestyle and outdoor sports products from many of the industry's leading brands such as Burton, Vans, Puma, Merrell, and Salomon. Buystand enables consumers to make-an-offer on these products at the price they're willing to pay. Buystand's EDGE Pricing Engine matches those offers to retailers who are willing to sell at that price. This completely novel shopping experience enables consumers to purchase products at their own unique price point while simultaneously providing retailers with a platform to more dynamically and profitably move product from their shelves. Rather than waiting to make substantial price reductions in large quantities of inventory during a sale, retailers can capture the margin left by those markdowns by more accurately and consistently selling products at each price point on the product's demand curve.
“While information technology has upended and improved many basic aspects of our lives, the way we price goods has so far remained untouched,” said Joe Davy, CEO of Buystand. “By empowering both retailers and consumers with quicker access to better information, we are drastically changing the way e-commerce goods are priced in a way that benefits everyone and will cause the old way of buying and selling to be forgotten.”
Buystand addresses one of the biggest challenges facing both retailers and consumers: imperfect pricing. Imperfect pricing forces consumers to waste time waiting for markdowns and looking for used or knock-off substitutes on-line. Retailers and brands are inhibited by a lack of information and the lack of a mechanism for dynamically clearing inventory, causing large margins to be left on the table with inefficient and imprecise sales. Buystand redefines the e-commerce experience for both sides of the market by offering two revolutionary products – Make-An-Offer Shopping for consumers and the EDGE Pricing Engine for retailers and brands that will change the way goods are bought and sold online.
“Buystand has built an incredible pricing technology and is providing an unparalleled e-commerce shopping experience,” said Buystand's Founder and COO Ted Kraus. “When consumers have control over how much they pay for a product and retailers gain the information and ability to more intelligently and responsively move inventory and capture margin, both sides win. Brands also benefit because Buystand never publishes markdowns and therefore protects brand equity.”
Buystand, which was initially backed by 8 Rivers Capital in Durham, N.C., has been building its product, team, and inventory in stealth for the last several months and is pleased to be launching with many of the top brands and retailers in the active lifestyle market.
Active lifestyle enthusiasts are encouraged to sign up at Buystand.com for access to the beta product.
