KEY POINTS:
Inspired by the likes of Trade Me and Zillion, three Kiwi entrepreneurs have launched their own online auction site in an untapped market - Morocco.
Business partners Julie Duffy and Mark Giordani were convinced by colleague Khalid Bouhdouz to launch an auction website in his homeland of Morocco.
"Khalid was living in New Zealand and saw an opportunity to start a site like Trade Me in Morocco as he said there was nothing like it there," says Duffy. "We saw an opportunity and started planning to launch it last year. The website was launched in June."
Duffy, Giordani and Bouhdouz are directors of the website company which is called Bi 3 O Chri which, translated, means 'sell and buy'.
Bouhdouz is the CEO of the firm and is based in Morocco where Giordani is staying during the start-up phase. Duffy, based in Auckland, describes herself as having an overseeing role with responsibilities for marketing and finance.
"I like to make sure everything gels together and keep an eye on the performance of the business," she says.
The site, www.bi3ochri.ma, markets itself with a traditional Moroccan fez icon complete with arms and legs that Duffy says has been popular with Moroccans.
She says the three business partners spent "a few hundred thousand dollars" setting up the business which she says has so far attracted more than 1.5 million hits and has an average of 1200 people online at any given time - 600 ahead of her target for September.
"Right now the site is generating money by way of online advertising. The site is really taking off as the Moroccans love to trade," says Duffy.
The service is presently free to sellers and buyers. But the company hopes to start charging listing and success fees by the end of October when Duffy hopes average viewing figures will reach 8000. Marketing of the site is being done with flyers handed out in the busy streets of Casablanca. Running the operation at the office is a team of seven people including Giordani and Bouhdouz.
The site currently lists 6500 items made up of a mixture of household goods and listings from traditional bricks and mortar retailers.
"Business customers have leapt to list their products on the site," says Duffy. "It is such a new concept in Morocco - although one other company is doing something similar now that we have launched."
And if it is a success, will Duffy and her partners be launching a site in New Zealand? "No. No way," says Duffy. "But we may look at launching auction sites in other countries."
