Shopping parties and direct sales models are the next big thing in e-commerce, and nowadays we aren’t the only ones with the same opinion. The statement applies particularly to female shoppers who are still not well addressed by traditional e-commerce models.
The founders of the online jewelry label Chloe + Isabel have recently closed their first big financing round to the tune of $8.5 million. Investors rave about the direct sales model which profits strongly from the social web:
"Last August, Chantel Waterbury walked into First Round's New York City office and told me all about jewelry, empowering women entrepreneurs in the fashion space, and what it means to design inspiring accessories.
She expounded on the completely missed opportunity to combine offline and online direct selling into a singular complementary vision.
What's exciting about chloe + isabel is that they're working on a modern version of a proven direct model "for today's social web"--but they have both the jewelry and direct selling DNA to build it off of a solid base.”
One of the pioneers in the jewelry segment is Stella + Dot, which was founded in 2004 and grew the 2006 revenues from $900,000 to $32 million in 2009. Their goal for this year is to take their 2010 figure of $104 million to $200 million. At the beginning of the year, the initial investors gave up 10% of their equity to Sequoia for $37 million.
In the context of our Exceed Program, we are supporting ambitious startups in their early phases. Currently we are setting up a capital round for amonsgst others, a new party-shopping concept. Serious investors with concrete interest in this segment are welcome to contact us.
Related posts:
- Must Read: “Commerce in the Time of Social”
- What Drives Social? What Drives Commerce?
- Exceed Program To Support Young Entrepreneurs in Germany
Originally posted in German by Jochen Krisch, adapted for excitingcommerce.com by Jason Soo.
That's quite some money. And a very lovely website.
Posted by: Bob Urbanowski | 11/28/2011 at 03:48 PM
Wow, these sites are perfect examples of the power of niche eCommerce sites.
Posted by: Karl @ Dropstream | 12/20/2011 at 06:50 PM