Flooz comes up flat-footed
Flooz.com, a New York-based online currency company promoted by actress/comedian Whoopi Goldberg, has suspended operations. The company reportedly is seeking a merger partner, though officials at Flooz did not return calls. A message on the Flooz.com web site states: “We are currently unable to process your transaction. We are working very hard to resume Flooz.com web site operations. Check back for further updates.”
Flooz positioned itself as a gift-giving solution. Users could buy Flooz
currency online and in turn, recipients could use the online currency to
make purchases at major online retailers including Godiva.com, Jcrew.com and
others. The company had upwards of 50 merchants signed to accept the
currency. More than half of Flooz.com’s business came from corporate
accounts, where employers used the currency as incentives or rewards for
employees and clients. Merchants had to pay a transaction fee “in the lower
double digits” to accept the online currency, officials have said.
Flooz envisioned its product becoming a closed-system online network of
merchants at which Flooz users could make online transactions. By creating a
network of popular merchants and a captive audience of users who can only
spend Flooz within the Flooz.com merchant list, the company had hoped to
generate online sales for merchants and help them cut customer acquisition
costs. Late last year the company reported that it had a customer base of
about one million accounts.
Back...
