TrustProfile acquires global quality mark Safe.Shop

TrustProfile, a customer review platform from the Netherlands, has acquired global trustmark Safe.Shop. The takeover will be complete at the start of November this year. Ecommerce News Europe spoke with CEO Daan Vaneker about the acquisition and TrustProfile’s growth plans.

Customer leap and gateway to European market

In November, TrustProfile will take the existing 8000 members of Safe.Shop with them. To keep their information up to date, customers will have to register on the platform first. The acquisition will be a big leap in TrustProfile’s consumer base. “Before the takeover we had just about 600 users, with most of our customers located in Spain“, TrustProfile’s CEO Daan Vaneker says.

‘We expect to advance to Belgium and Croatia.’

The acquisition will provide the Dutch review platform with a lot more customers and a foot in the door of several European countries. Vaneker: “In the short term we expect to make advancements in Belgium and Croatia.”

Safe.Shop: competing interests and brand unfamiliarity

Safe.Shop, the first global trustmark in ecommerce, was established by Ecommerce Foundation in 2017. It consists of established local trustmarks that joined forces in a worldwide label, with participants from Switzerland to Romania, Japan and Brazil.

Although the participating countries were happy to join Safe.Shop, the trustmark has faced some challenges. For one, it was difficult to combine their different interests into one international company. Additionally, the project lacked much-needed brand awareness. “A quality mark’s biggest asset lies in customer’s ability to recognize it. To create awareness for the label, Safe.Shop would have to exert a huge marketing budget”.

While Safe.Shop lagged behind, Scamadviser – another label by Ecommerce Foundation that informs users on the safety of websites – was excelling. The foundation therefore decided to focus all its efforts on warning consumers about fraudulent online stores.

‘Now is the perfect time to employ the global network of Safe.Shop’

The takeover comes at the right time for TrustProfile, which only launched over a year ago. “Our beta-phase is in the rearview mirror and we are fully operational. Now that the software is ready, this is the perfect time to employ the global network of Safe.Shop”, says Vaneker.

‘We are the TripAdvisor of ecommerce.’

The review platform wants to continue connecting local trustmarks, just like its predecessor. However, the company will not unite them under one label. Instead, users can showcase all their different quality marks with TrustProfile.

“Our platform combines information from different sources to show how trustworthy your online store is. For example, it shows that your store is a Confianza Online member and does dispute mediation. We verify this, but do not offer the services ourselves”, says the CEO. “We are the TripAdvisor of ecommerce.”