By JESSIE KRAUS-LAVY
News Editor
Commerce at school has gone online with the launch of Boteega, an online marketplace designed specifically for students.
“Boteega, or ‘botiga’ in its original Catalan, translates to ‘store,’” states the Boteega website. Founding member senior Matt Amato of Long Branch explained that the spelling change was made to prevent students from mispronouncing the company name.
Launched on March 17, Boteega offers students the opportunity to shop for their breakfast, buy tickets to school events and find student-produced artwork without ever having to leave the computer.
The decision to create a functioning business was an unusual one.
“Usually the E-Commerce classes create their own individual businesses, but since our class was so small, only six people, we decided it would be cool to come up with one real business,” said chief financial officer senior Steve Goldberg of Marlboro.
Teacher Laura Gesin added that, had the class had the usual 16 students, creating Boteega would have been impossible.
Goldberg added that the business seemed like a logical choice for the small class because the start-up cost was minimal.
“We only had to purchase the website, which was $12.17,” he said.
The site is represented by a bandana-wearing purple octopus, said chief executive officer senior Thom Bell of Atlantic Highlands.
“The octopus represents that we have our hand in everything,” said Bell. “Although I’m not sure what the bandana has to do with it.”
In conjunction with its own website, Boteega is active on both Twitter and Facebook. Boteega has utilized the social networking media to draw customers in.
Each week they hold a drawing for those who are fans of them on Facebook. The winner is rewarded with free breakfast.
Chief branding officer, Senior Rachael Gallagher of Wall explained that while it may be difficult to sell art online for this year, students can look forward to purchasing their prom bids on the site later this month. Boteega will also be launching a contest on Twitter to name their mascot Bo’s prom date, in conjunction with prom bid sales.