Comments on: Russia’s KupiVIP raises another $8m as Europe pounces on buyers clubs

By: The $1.5 billion scramble for Vente Privee by Gilt, eBay and Amazon

The $1.5 billion scramble for Vente Privee by Gilt, eBay and Amazon — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:45:05 +0000

[...] In Russia, online shopping club KupiVIP.ru, operated by Privat Trade, counts Mangrove Capital Partners as a backer. [...]

By: MatWin

MatWin — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:20:59 +0000

To clear this up, KupiVIP did not get 8Mio in the 2nd round! They got $2,5M in the 1st round and sold 20% of their shares for $2M end of of this spring. They are currently spending massive marketing money and are educating the market. Good for the No2 in the market. If anybody knows an investor for the No2 ($1M needed) please let me know.
Rds from Russia
MatWin
PS:4PH Langlois: check out http://www.gilt.com, that’s the US start up which is already selling millions.

By: jag

jag — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:02:55 +0000

read here
http://www.aromatechab.se

By: CastleRockCO

CastleRockCO — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:31:40 +0000

KupiVIP probably copied the name of the start-up BuyVIP (www.buyvip.de) in Frankfurt.

By: Alexander Danilov

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 17:26:23 +0000

Michael, “Kupi” mens “buy” in russian

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 19:49:15 +0000

I was digging the name KupiVIP so much, I just got http://www.KupiTix.com. What do you guys think?

By: Jozef

Jozef — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:36:46 +0000

It’s amazing how much cash these guys collect, but for VC’s it’s an easy game: some must be bought by larger retailers in due time. An example of one in which retailers already invest is the Dutch based (but delivering all throughout Europe) 42HRSClub (http://www.42HRSClub.com). They seem to grow very fast and have good relationships with the brands. That also counts, I think.

By: max

max — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 01:48:55 +0000

Looks like the only real use of Quintura is as a source of gossip from .RU

By: Shakir Razak

Shakir Razak — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:19:02 +0000

Hi,

Got to feel sorry for the Web1.0 guys of LetsBuyit.com.

I realise it’s slightly inverted, but the model of a closed (private) group having access to limited stock at discount prices stands – and they were doing it in the 90’s; The current iteration has been in development for years now.

Kind regards,

Shakir Razak

By: Neil Bryant

Neil Bryant — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:35:51 +0000

Mangrove (probably Michael Jackson) is going great guns in Russia.

There are a lot of these clubs already in existence and there is a big resale and exchange market (in Moscow at least) for designer clothes.

8 million seems a lot of cash, what is it being used for, do you know?

By: Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:30:21 +0000

wow, 2 comments on a post about startups/business models in Europe/Russia..

By: PH Langlois

PH Langlois — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:35:15 +0000

Hi there,

First, I’m french, and impressed to see TC US talking about these “ventes privées”

Then 1 question: is there any US Website on that model ?

And a comment:

In France, there is almost 40 websites on that model (you can see them all here: http://www.touteslesventes.com/les_sites_de_ventes_privees.html), and it looks like the market is getting to struggle. One or two big players, with lots of funds and a real platform (not only the webplatform, but also the logistics, the photoshooting, the marketing, and so on..) keep getting up, but many others smaller just try and leave the market after 1 year when discovering how not-so-easy it is …

Also, users of these websites get easily registered to all of these websites, meaning mass-mail covered (not spam.. but 10 emails about buyers club each day … ouch), meaning the direct email is not anymore efficient to reach these targets.

So how to ? Spend thousands dollars each week on advertising in Google ads. So, only the bigs still live..

==> I’m not sure about the magento module, even if Magento is wonderful. My opinion is that the trick is NOT the webplatform (through an agency, it would worth 15-25k$). But everything around it

Regarding BrandAlley, their VCs are :
BNP Paribas (Bank),
Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC Entreprises – it’s a state organisation)
A Plus Finance (VC)

And to give more few stats, on touteslesventes.com since january 7th ‘09, we’ve covered 1030 sales, including 572 different brands.

Best,
PH

By: James

James — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:48:50 +0000

There are rumors that Magento, the wonderful eCommerce platform, is releasing a private sales module that will enable the proliferation of private sales across Europe and North America. Given the platforms low-cost and barrier to entry, we may see more of these type site on the ground soon.