Online business is booming in Bournemouth, home to Europe’s fastest-growing e-commerce company

More than a fifth of all retail purchases are expected to take place online in 2023 according to Forbes. E-commerce may have boomed during the pandemic, but it’s also here to stay.

And at the forefront of the industry right now is Bournemouth’s OnBuy.com, which recently charted on this year’s FT1000 as the fastest-growing e-commerce business in Europe.

OnBuy has seen unprecedented growth of 3,402 per cent since 2018. This has rocketed the company up from 331st last year to 25th on the overall list, which ranks Europe’s businesses by revenue growth.

CEO Cas Paton. Credit: OnBuy

CEO Cas Paton said: “Inclusion on the FT1000 is the culmination of a lot of hard work. I’m incredibly proud of the whole OnBuy team and the brilliant work that we have done as a group to get into this position.

“I attribute the business’ strong growth to our collective commitment to providing a fairer ecosystem for both sellers and buyers.

“It’s really important to us as a company that our values remain consistent, with fairness and transparency always at the heart of the business.”

The site currently caters to around six million customers and offers more than 35 million products. Unlike other marketplaces it doesn’t stock its own inventory, avoiding competition with its sellers.

And for Cas and the team, this is just the start: “We’re on the verge of unveiling a series of incredibly exciting innovations that will help bring us even closer to our sellers and our customers allowing us to build a better, stronger marketplace for the future.

“The ranking represents a springboard for us to take the next big step in our journey – there’s lots more to come.”