U.K. tech company WeShop is launching the world’s first community-owned social e-commerce platform, offering consumers shares in the group with every purchase. The company plans to give up to 90 percent of its business to shoppers and aims to be listed on New York’s Nasdaq within 12 months to compete with tech giants like Amazon. Consumers on the “Shoppable Social Network” will receive 20 percent of each purchase price as investment shares. The platform also offers 10 percent of the product’s value in shares for purchases made through referrals on the platform. Buyers can also increase their shares by recruiting new members, with 1 percent of the value spent by the new member converted into shares. Chief executive Richard Griffiths said WeShop is a novel company that is “pioneering the belief of share democratization” and will make retail “disruptive on many levels.” WeShop has been testing the app since the beginning of the year with 4,000 shoppers and aims to sign up about 100,000 members in the first two to three months after launch. In November 2021, Boanerges Limited had acquired WeShop’s assets, business and name.

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