Michael Murphy, the internet entrepreneur who made his name through Friends Reunited, has led a management buy-in of Quidco, an online retail site.
Quidco, launched by Paul and Jennifer Nikkel in 2005, connects its members with deals for which it gains a commission from the retailer.
Billing itself as Britain’s ‘best kept retail secret’, it already has a community of over 500,000 users and says that this year it will save them over £25m as well as generating retailers a quarter of a billion. Murphy says that he plans to quadruple both of these figures.
“Bringing Michael on board represents a massive coup for everyone involved with Quidco – including our members and retailers,” said Paul Nikkel. “He has a proven track record of building communities and is committed to maintaining the principles and transparency of the site and working closely with us to open new doors and make Quidco a household name.”
Murphy is credited with turning Friends Reunited into Britain’s largest membership organisation with 21 million users, as well as increasing profits five-fold and eventually selling the business for £175m. Previous to that he was chief operating officer at the Financial Times.
“Quidco is already an invaluable service for members – my job is simply to continue to build the membership, generate ever more great deals from retailers, and therefore save members even more money,” he said.
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2009