Superbalist.com (formerly Citymob.co.za) is an online retailer based in Cape Town, South Africa that offers a range of design inspired products to over 700 000 registered users. It was founded in 2010 and is run by Luke Jedeikin, Mikael Hanan, Matthew Goslett and Claude Hanan. The company received funding in 2010 from a local Angel investor and in 2012 received additional investment from Wantitall.co.za[1] - one of South Africa's oldest and largest online retailers. Superbalist employs 60 staff and is ranked in the top 5 eCommerce websites in South Africa, by traffic as per Alexa Internet rankings.
History
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Formerly Citymob.co.za, Superbalist.com started out as a group buying website offering coupons at steep discounts, redeemable at 3rd party merchants.
In March 2012 Superbalist (then Citymob) made its first pivot into a flash sales business model that offered physical products in addition to coupons[2]. This allowed a more varied and unique product offering.
In November 2013, Citymob rebranded to Superbalist.com[3]. The rebrand accompanied a move away from flash sales into a more traditional online retail model that includes permanent lines and no time limit on product available for purchase.
Wantitall Connection
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Wantitall.co.za is a strategic shareholder in the business. It invested in the company in 2012 and manages the warehousing and logistics side of the business.
Growth
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Superbalist grew rapidly from an unknown industry entity to a business boasting over 700 000 registered users and in excess of 200 000 monthly unique site visits as at October 2013, as per Google Analytics. The website offers in excess of 4000 products for sale at any given time. There is significant momentum in the South African online space which is expected to grow at in excess of 25% per annum for the next five years. [4]
Art-on-Demand
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Superbalist.com launched South Africa's first online art-on-demand offering. Over 80 artists provide artwork that is able to be reproduced on canvas, posters, cushion covers, mobile phone covers and tote bags. This allows artists exposure to untapped markets and offers a new and exciting channel for artists to monetise their works.
==External links==
http://superbalist.com/
http://www.wantitall.co.za/
The future of eCommerce in South Africa
Citymob Relaunches as Superbalist.com
Online Immune to retail slump
References
edit- ^ http://ventureburn.com/2013/04/citymob-gets-wantitall-investment-boost/
- ^ http://businesstech.co.za/news/internet/34261/citymob-from-daily-deals-to-designer-dibs/
- ^ http://businesstech.co.za/news/internet/48466/citymob-growth-spurs-re-brand/
- ^ http://businessnews.howzit.msn.com/google-remains-bullish-on-e-commerce-in-sa-1