The Shop Exchange: The Holtzbrinck eLab Offloads Guut.de

Like so many Holtzbrinck eLab investments, Guut.de must also now pay the piper. After the founders had to leave already at the beginning of the year, the current management took over the shares (GE/EN) and then laid off a good portion of the staff.

In contrast to Holtzbrinck Ventures, who take a more long term strategy, Holtzbrinck eLab is revealing itself to be a pure fair-weather “investor”. Our “exit driven investor” label from our previous post was evidently not too far off.

This is also bitter news for the German live shopping market, since it pulls us behind in comparison to the other European markets. One can be anxious to see if Guut.de can eventually find a new, future-oriented patron who will help it regain its former strength. Or, if a new player will use this opportunity to fill the gap.

The hottest candidate would have been Preisbock. But instead of seizing the moment, the team there seems to be unnecessarily distracted (GE/EN).

Only iBOOD is holding onto its strategy firmly and is already today playing at a new level. It looks pretty likely now that the local live shopping market - like the other e-commerce markets before it - will be developed by international players who will dominate the field for a long while to come.

Originally posted in German by Jochen Krisch, adapted for excitingcommerce.com by Jason Soo.

Comments

[Tom Beyer]

Hi there,

Just come across this blog while doing some research. Excuse my ignorance, but what exactly do you mean by "live shopping"?

Thanks
Tom

[Jason Soo]

Hi Tom,

Live Shopping is a business model whereby a very limited selection of articles goes on sale with very deep discounts for a very limited amount of time. The traditional model is One Day, One Deal, and when the stock (or time) runs out, the deal is over.

The dynamic nature of the offering is incentive for bargain hunters to check regularly and buy quickly. woot.com is the premier example of such a business model in action.