OZtion Story 2004 - How it all began
It all began with a programmer tinkering with some code...
In early 2004, Kelvin Yip, OZtion's technology architect, came up with some brilliant
web site technology.
At the time, Philip Druce, OZtion's General Manager, was developing and selling
software to automate the management of online auctions, as well as running a computer
consultancy business.
Philip suggested that Kelvin develop his own web site, something that the Australia
market needed. Fresh out of university, Kelvin decided to build a prototype web
site designed to advertise and list items in garage sales.
The key to the prototype web site was an amazing online auction engine.
So when Kelvin showed Philip the technology he had put together, the next step seemed
obvious.
They decided to go head to head with one of the wealthiest corporations on the planet,
and develop an Australian online auction site.
On the 1st of January 2005, the site was ready to go live. And OZtion was born.
2005 - Our first tentative steps
Everyday, thousands of Australian web sites are born. When OZtion took it's first
baby steps into the World Wide Web on the 1st of January 2005, it was one of about
15 tiny Australian auction sites.
And all of those fledgling sites had one thing in common. A desperate need to convince
somebody - anybody - to visit them and use their systems.
So with a tiny budget, and some amazing technology, OZtion decided to be different.
We focused on keeping our sellers happy.
By keeping prices low, OZtion made it easy for sellers to make a profit.
But price isn't everything. So we focused on quickly innovating with new technology,
constantly looking for new ways to ease the pain of buying and selling online.
Rather than waiting to perfect new features in our lab, we listened to feedback
from our users, and began to rapidly enhance site features. On a weekly, sometimes
even daily basis.
We listened to our members, and OZtion rapidly transformed.
2006 - 2009 - Riding the wave
As OZtion grew, so did the team behind the scenes. Philip & Kelvin began to build
a team of professionals in online trading, web site development, database systems,
internet security and fraud prevention.
Some of the memorable times for OZtion in 2006 included winning 'Best New Site'
at the Australian Netguide awards in Sydney, being included in a Christmas bargains
story on Channel Nine's A Current Affair show, launching vShops, making our first TV commercial and celebrating our 100,000th member.
In 2007 OZtion continued to deploy regular updates and features to the site such
as Express Lister 2, classified ads, Buyer Shield and new member verification systems
including 100 point seller verification. We also won an award for ranking #2 in
the Hitwise Australia ‘Shopping and Classifieds – Auction’ industry based on number
of visits and celebrated our 200,000th member.
OZtion reached 250,000 members in early 2008 and was acquired in mid-2008 by Jumbuck
Entertainment Ltd during a strong growth period. Other products launched in 2008
included OZtion mobile (m.oztion.com.au), Adget, and Ad-tion.
In 2009, OZtion well and truly embraced the social media age establishing Facebook
and Twitter pages, keeping its members well updated. A new TV commercial was produced
airing on Foxtel. The Major site features introduced included ‘Make an Offer’, Premium
vShops and the Multi – Item Auction feature.
2010 - Joining the carsales family
OZtion's acquisition by
carsales.com Limited
was completed in September 2010, a complete move to the carsales office shortly
followed. From day one the OZtion team experienced tremendous support with additional
business development, design, marketing and site development resources. This culminated
with the most significant design change to OZtion since the site was first launched,
way back in 2005. The redesigned website incorporated many of the ideas and comments
collected from our user survey conducted in September.
Below are the major achievements of 2010!
- OZtion celebrated its 5th birthday
- The new look 'My OZtion' was launched to fantastic member feedback.
- Category Tags/Category Updates as well as improved Search functions were introduced.
- Due to popular demand we introduced Forum Games
- Launched our "Massive Category Sales" which are continually proving to be a great
success
- OZtion and Temando combined forces to provide extensive delivery options at unbeatable
prices
- In October the OZtion community celebrated its 500,000th membership
- The minimum sale fee was slashed from 40 cents to 25 cents
- The new redesigned OZtion site was successfully launched.
And last but definitely not least.....
- Carsales.com Ltd warmly welcomed OZtion into its family
2011 - A new era, OZtion becomes quicksales
What an exciting time, same team new name!
After immense consideration OZtion.com.au rebranded to quicksales.com.au. The rebranded
site went live as quicksales.com.au powered by OZtion on the 7th February, 2011.
The name change was brought about to not only represent what OZtion is all about,
but to establish a name that was easy to pronounce and promote, making it consistent
with the carsales family of 'sales' brands. More importantly, the name change to
quicksales allowed us to take advantage of the carsales network customer base of
over 4.3million* unique users every month and millions of page impressions daily.
The carsales network promotion was evident from our launch through links across
the carsales sites as well as within banner and newsletter promotion including carsales.com.au,
bikesales.com.au and boatsales.com.au to name a few.