SANTA MONICA, Calif. - uMember.com has spent the last year and a half fine tuning its credit union-only portal product. Ernie Marquez, executive vice president for uMember.com, said the company was set to launch sometime last year, but wanted to reevaluate its branding and product strategy after seeing some of the other portal providers' offerings. The company finally unveiled its portal two months ago. "After other guys beat us to the punch, we took a step back and rebranded ourselves. We talked to a lot of credit unions to make sure we met their wants and needs," said Marquez, who is a former board member of Southern California Edison Credit Union. Though new to the credit union market with a portal, uMember.com is already a public company (traded under the symbol UMEM.COM). It was spun off from Wareforce.com, a provider of information technology and e-commerce solutions. USA FCU, Los Angeles, was the first credit union to go live with the uMember.com portal. The company said it has two other credit unions signed up. The portal is free for credit unions and members. Each quarter uMember.com gives credit unions 1% of the revenue made from their members' purchases. Marquez said half of that money goes back to CUs in the form of incentives for members to continue using the portal, with the other half for the credit union to use as they want. As for differentiators from the other players, uMember.com claims to have close to a million products available on its site. "The other e-commerce site out there has 3,200 products. We're on the verge of a million products. We have direct relationships with manufacturers that in some cases can mean 73% discounts," said Marquez. Like the other portals, uMember.com is customizable as far as content and being able to implement the CU's branding information. There are special sections for credit unions to post specific CU promotions and any CU news. The portal does feature a chat room function that allows members to talk electronically. The content is screened for inappropriate material. Marquez said the chat rooms are kid friendly. The portal also has bulletin boards. An auction component allows members to bid on products from manufacturers as well as each other. The products range from home and garden items to electronics. The auction component is powered by www.bidland.com. Another unique feature Marquez points to is a soon to be released shopping cart feature that will allow members to have money automatically debited from any one of their CU accounts when they make a purchase on uMember.com uMember.com provides participating credit unions with free direct marketing materials, including collateral material such as posters and signs to do grand openings at their branches. The portal is designed to be accessed from the credit union's home page. Marquez said uMember.com gives away free prizes to members as incentives to keep coming back. That the portal will soon feature a car buying service. -
pgentile@cutimes.com
