iomart Hosting drives Bidbroo auction site to new heights
Leading UK hosting and cloud service company iomart Hosting has helped Edinburgh-based Bidbroo create an online auction site that allows people to get high street products like televisions and cameras at knockdown prices.
It is based on the idea that the lowest unique bid wins and combines the fun of shopping with the entertainment of an auction house, all hosted on the web.
Bidbroo founder Mike Christopherson said:” As every auction reaches its conclusion a real feeding frenzy takes place. With the help of iomart Hosting we can react fast and efficiently to that customer demand and will be able to cope with more customers as we grow the company.”
Phil Worms, Director Marketing of iomart Group, added:” The concept behind Bidbroo is really exciting and we’re delighted to be playing our part. By its very nature an online auction ends in a bidding war and causes spikey web site traffic which requires on demand hosting services to make sure that the end user experience runs smoothly. iomart Hosting is delighted to have been chosen to work with Bidbroo and no we weren’t the lowest bid!”
The way the unique bidding system works is that the lowest individual or unique amount that has been bid for an item wins. So, if several people have bid 1 pence but one person has bid 2 pence, then the 2p bid wins. Bidbroo makes its revenue on the number of bids made.
Since inception, Bidbroo has already registered 4,500 members and now has big plans to expand its customer base as word spreads of its unique shopping portal.
It has just launched a new feature called ‘Price Drop’ which means that an item’s price drops as it is revealed with the scenario repeated until someone cannot contain themselves any longer and purchases the item for the reduced rate.
With iomart hosting the website from its Glasgow data centre the web development team at Bidbroo was able to add this new feature directly to the website. It also means the team can control the packages and versions of software on the server.
Bidbroo itself is the brainchild of Swedish entrepreneurs Mike Christopherson and Per Tegelof. Mike owns several pubs in Edinburgh including Boda Bar and Sofi’s Bar.
