Firebox.com

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Firebox.com

Firebox.com homepage
Web address http://www.firebox.com/
Slogan

"...we don't stop playing because we get old;

we get old because we stop playing."
Commercial? Yes
Type of site Online Retailer
Registration Optional
Available language(s) English
Created by Michael Smith and Tom Boardman
Launched June 1998
Revenue £14.4m in 2010[1]
Alexa rank positive decrease 13,144 (February 2014)[2]
Current status Online

Firebox.com is an electronic commerce based in London, England, that was created in 1998 as hotbox.co.uk, an internet retailer founded by university friends Michael Acton Smith and Tom Boardman.[3] Their inventory covers many different products from baby toys to high-tech gadgets.

History

Two friends in college, Michael Acton Smith and Tom Boardman decided that they had a good idea for a new drinking game – the Shot Glass Chess Set. The idea prompted them to create a completely online company where people could purchase this and other obscure but “cool” products. The idea was to create a site where the public could meet with original and interesting products. They began in Cardiff, Wales as hotbox.co.uk, then in 1999 moved to London and relaunched as Firebox.com [4]

Recently Firebox.com launched a US site and has set up a US-based distribution center.

Michael Acton Smith is also the founder of Mind Candy makers of Perplex City, an alternate reality game based on puzzles, a missing artifact and a fictional city. In 2008 Acton Smith also launched Moshi Monsters, an online game/social networking site for pre-teens which grew to over 4 million users by July 2009.[5]

Products

  • Gifts
  • Gadgets
  • Toys
  • Games
  • Firetots
  • Lifestyle
  • Design
  • Technology
  • Geek
  • Eco-friendly
  • Retro
  • Experiences
  • WTF - What the firebox

Most of the products sold on Firebox.com are skewed towards people who are into obscure or abstract items that are unique and hard to come by otherwise.[6] The site states:"We're very selective though - so only the most original, most exciting products get picked."[7]

External links

References

  1. ↑ http://levelbusiness.com/doc/company/uk/03874477/financials
  2. ↑ "Firebox.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2014-02-02. 
  3. ↑ Firebox About page
  4. ↑ Article on the first years of Firebox.com.
  5. ↑ http://www.socialmedia.biz/2009/07/16/the-hottest-game-startup-in-europe/
  6. ↑ A review from Product Reviews
  7. ↑ Firebox About page
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