The best of both worlds

Building a successful online community takes time and considerable effort. buyonetoo is well aware of this. We believe that the need to 'attract, retain and monetise' your members needn't exclusively be delivered through advertising relationships alone.

Often referred to as a 'necessary evil', research polls reinforce the view that users find adverts and click-out links an unwanted and irritating distraction to their browsing experience - the online equivalent of junk-mail through the letterbox.

Ad-blocking is BIG business

Over 100 million add-ons that block adverts from appearing have been applied to Mozilla's very fine Firefox browser since 2006. There are currently ten such ad-blocking add-ons available to apply, with a combined download rate of almost a million a week*.

* See https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox 

Community dilution

Adverts operate on a per-person basis, treating each of your members in isolation. When one of your members clicks an advert, they are taken away from the community, weakening the cohesion established between members and dispersing your traffic.

When a group becomes divided, the opportunity for group consumption disappears with it too. Keeping your members together and treating them as a true community not only serves to retain traffic, but also opens up innovative and powerful group trading benefits.

The 'content to consumption' cycle

Great content is the foundation and currency of the community, and the key to sustained growth. buyonetoo's partner communities recognise the importance of providing a constant stream of fresh and relevant content to their members.

Polls show that over 80% of online shopping starts with online research, and that this research is increasingly conducted within trusted, focussed and impartial interest-based communities. Product reviews, both peer-generated and those provided by community operators are increasingly influential in the consumer's decision-making process.

The gap in the user-journey between content and consumption can therefore be plugged by operating an in-community marketplace, converging relevant information with relevant products from relevant trading partners, all in a 'one stop shop'.

Reducing community dilution, increasing member benefits, and allowing vendors to sell their items inside your community is a 'win-win-win' for you, your members, and retailers too.