Germany's leading buying club Brands4friends expands into Austria

21915v1-max-250x250[Germany] Buying clubs remain a hot item. Last week we reported on acquisition talks between Amazon and France-based Vente-Privee, said to be valued at over 2 billion euros. And now we learn that Germany’s Brands4friends has expanded into Austria. The buying club already claims 2.5 million members in its home country and says that since launch 50,000 Austrians have joined the site.

As with other buying clubs, Brands4friends offers members access to major fashion brands at hugely discounted prices, driven by the overstock market. The company says that Austrian members can save up to 70% on top international brands. Brands4friends won’t be opening a local office in Austria, however, (initially at least) but has assigned ten of its 200 employees based in Berlin to support the Austrian site, including sourcing offers from Austrian fashion brands.

Brands4friends expects to see growth in Germany continue throughout 2010 – the company claims “up to 120,000 new registrations” per month – and forecasts that Austria should see 100,000 members by the end of next year. But perhaps more significantly, the company looks to be on track to break even this year with projected sales of 85 million euros. That smells like more acquisition fodder to me.