Gunnar Piening

Founded in Germany in 2005, Swoopo is one of the world's most innovative auction sites. Based on a unique software solution and business model, the company sells premium products like: computers, cameras, game consoles and even cars, at very low prices. Swoopo auctions over 10,000 products per month and has more than 2,500,000 registered customers. Here is how it works: its online customers buy 'bids' in advance. They cost 50p each and are sold in packs of 25, 50, 100, 250 or 500. Bidders have the choice of placing single bids, or, using an electronic bid assistant called the 'BidButler'. Alternatively, customers can bid via the phone. Every bid placed, increases the price of the product by 10p and the auction countdown by up to 20 seconds. To help keep track of the money spent on bidding, each auction displays the amount spent on bids by the customer and how much the bidder would save overall, if they won the auction at that moment. The 'last bidder standing' when the countdown reaches zero, wins the auction - usually at a very low price; winners save, on average, 65% when compared to the recommended retail price. In December 2007, Swoopo was successfully launched in the UK, followed by Spain in May 2008 and the US and Austria in September 2008. Swoopo has launched Canada in June 2009, more countries are going to be added in the future.

Ciao AG provides online shopping and online survey services. It is a global media company providing internet services to consumers and businesses through its worldwide network of online properties. The company online services are available to consumers in local language versions in major western European markets. Ciao combines unbiased consumer reviews and price information from hundreds of online merchants to make it the most comprehensive source of shopping intelligence on the web. The company provides advertising services as well as data collection and survey solutions to industries. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Munich, Germany.