More acquisitions for Groupon to widen the net of consumers using its platform to buy things online and take it further away from its earliest roots as a daily deals site. Today it’s announced the acquisition of ideeli, a flash fashion retailer, for $43 million in cash. The news comes on the heels of the company completing its $260 million acquisition of LivingSocial’s Ticket Monster business in Korea for ticketing and event services.
It’s a major loss for ideeli’s investors: the New York-based company had raised $107 million in funding from investors like StarVest, Kodiak and Credit Suisse since being founded in 2007.
This is both a product/customer and technology acquisition, with Groupon continuing to run ideeli’s business and also using its mobile expertise, possibly to expand into other flash sales categories.
“We are thrilled to add ideeli and their team to our company,” said Groupon CEO Eric Lefkofsky in a statement. “Ideeli extends our fashion presence and brings great relationships with many of the top brands in apparel. Our customers have a demonstrated appetite for these offers, and by broadening our reach in this space Groupon is even better positioned as the place you start when you want to do or buy just about anything, anytime, anywhere.”
“Groupon’s brand, reach and vision as an ecommerce destination make it a tremendous place to continue to grow our company,” said ideeli CEO Stefan Pepe. “We look forward to bringing the great deals we offer to Groupon customers.”
Although Groupon is getting the company at a relative steal, the big question is whether it will be able to captalise on the assets in ways that ideeli as a standalone company has not. When ideeli was first founded seven years ago, flash sales were all the rage and consumers were flocking to sign up to sites where they would be members and receive information on exclusive discounts. More recently, however, companies like Gilt Groupe that built early reputations around the business model have found themselves on the defensive trying to prove that the concept is not just a fad, but a sustainable business mdoel.
More to come.
via fashion - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNGcNDAomZIXusUq9DBscY0dAGYXaA&url=http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/13/groupon-moves-into-flash-fashion-buys-ideeli-for-43m-in-cash/
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