Kupivip

KupiVIP purchases warehouse stocks of fashion brands at discounted prices and offers them through its online store with discounts of 30 to 90% on short-term sales ^[1] . More than 200 fashion brands (including Versace , Cavalli , Dsquared , Prada , Burberry , Valentino , Vivienne Westwood , Les Copains ) and Russian designers ( Masha Tsigal , Igor Chapurin , Alyona Akhmadullina and others) collaborate with the company. The format helps retailers sell items and not compete with major distribution channels ^{[2] [3] [4]} . Since 2010, the company has consistently opened niche online stores, and then in 2014–2015 merged them, the ShopTime online store and the purchasing unit of Kupivip Germany within the framework of the single Kupivip brand, making previously independent sites sections of the main site ^{[5] [6]} .

Since 2011, the company has been manufacturing clothes, shoes and accessories under its own brands . Among them, Joe Suis, Disetta, Lorena, L'Attrice, since 2014, jointly with the STS channel, clothes have been produced under the Sweet Me brand ^{[7] [8] [9] [10]} .

Kupivip reduces costs through its own logistics service, which has existed almost since the launch of the online store ^{[11] [12] [13]} . In 2012, the company rented 20.5 thousand m² for 7 years in a logistics park in the Podolsky district of the Moscow region for the organization of a large distribution center ^[14] . At the end of 2013, she introduced a delivery service for other online stores ^[15] .

Since 2015, the company has been developing a network of offline stores in Moscow . In 2015-2017, the company opened 4 points in the shopping and entertainment centers of the city and one in Reutov ^{[16] [17] [18]} .

Russia

The company was founded in 2008 by Oscar Hartmann , a native of the Soviet German family. He was born in Kazakhstan , at the age of 7 years old he moved to Germany, was educated, built a career and came to Russia as an analyst at the Boston Consulting Group . The idea of ​​a startup based on the model of a with came to Hartmann in the spring of 2008, when he worked on the study of corporate strategies of German clothing manufacturers in the Russian market. The potential of the shopping club model was confirmed by the experience of the French online store and other shopping clubs - British , German Brands4friends and American Rue La La, and ^{[2 ] [12] [19] [20]} .

Hartmann decided to start his own project and quit the Boston Consulting Group. In Germany, he hired 6 people to purchase clothing and accessories. Delivery was arranged through Schenker’s Russian office, which was led by his father, Richard Hartmann. In Russia, Hartmann Jr. registered the company Privat Trade, rented an office and hired 15 employees who attracted the first 70 customers ^{[12] [21] [22]} . The Kupivip.ru website was launched at the height of the financial crisis in October 2008. A year later, the store’s database was 800 thousand registrations, and he took about 2000 orders every day ^{[12] [23]} .

In 2010, the company opened a separate shopping club, Kupiluxe, where expensive brands were sold. In the same year, the E-Commerce Services division appeared, which provided large retailers with an infrastructure for online trading ^[24] . At the end of the year, revenue grew seven times and reached $ 100 million ^{[12] [25]} .

In 2011, the company launched the Shopping Club application on the Odnoklassniki social network, to which about half a million users connected in a month ^[26] .

In early 2012, a new platform was launched - ShopTime, which operates in the format of a traditional online store with a constant assortment of new collections. The claimed investment in the project amounted to $ 50 million ^[27] . According to the results of the year, the company for the second time in a row took 7th place in the list of the largest Internet companies with revenue of $ 256 million ^[28] .

In the summer of 2012, Kupivip together with Avris, White Wind Digital , Detsky Mir , Moll Street, M-Video , Eldorado , Utinet , Enter , E5 , Media Markt and Wikimart co-founded The “Association of Internet Trading Companies”, whose stated goals were to establish fair competition principles and counteract the gray market ^[29] .

In 2013, Kupivip increased the share of regional sales to ⅔ turnover ^[30] , introduced PayPal ^[31] . However, the consistent decline in the Internet trading market over the course of several years turned into a loss for the company: with a revenue of $ 190 million, a loss of 530 million rubles was recorded ^{[32] [33]} .

In 2014, the company began cooperation with the Molotok.Ru platform ^[34] and the STS Media television company ^[7] , acquired a platform for analyzing the catalogs of Price3D online stores ^[35], and released its own mobile application ^[36] . The growth in sales in the IV quarter of 2014 allowed the company to break even again and take 15th place in the ranking of the most expensive Runet companies with an estimate of $ 180 million ^[37] .

In the first quarter of 2015, Kupivip products appeared on the site of the eBay online auction , and the company itself began to participate in the promotion of solutions on the Russian market ^[38] . In April, Kupivip bought an Sapato.ru online shoe store from Ozon.ru for an unnamed amount, which it had previously purchased from Fast Lane Ventures, an investment firm founded by Hartmann and several partners, and integrated it into its own infrastructure through E-Commerce Services ^{[39] [40]} . According to the results of the year, the company reached a turnover of 16.6 billion rubles and for the first time disclosed financial indicators, announcing a return to operating payback ^[41] .

Belarus

The company began selling goods to Belarus back in 2010 ^[42] . In the first half of 2014, delivery with cash on delivery appeared , and in the fall, the Kupivip.by website began to work ^[43] . According to Vladimir Kholyaznikov, CEO of Kupivip, a year later the Belarusian site provided about 5% of the company's total revenue ^[44] .

Kazakhstan

The company entered the Kazakhstan market in 2013, launched a local version of the site, and in the fall of 2014 opened an office in Almaty . Kupivip.kz became the first shopping club in the country and monthly attracted 50 thousand new customers ^[45] . Pony Express became the logistics partner - in its several express centers in the fall of 2015, points for issuing orders with fitting were opened. In the future, the company planned to open its own delivery service in the country ^[46] . At the end of 2014, the Kazakh division of the company took 9th place in the ranking of the largest Internet companies in Kazakhstan with a revenue of $ 11 million compiled by the local Forbes publication, 2015 brought the company $ 13 million and 11th place in the rating ^{[47] [48]} .

E-Commerce Services was established in 2010 and is involved in the creation and maintenance of online stores for major participants in the clothing and footwear retail market. The division takes over web development and support, customer service and analytics collection. E-Commerce Services uses its own infrastructure - warehouses and a delivery service, a call center , a photo studio and a modeling agency. Kupivip commission on projects is 18–40% ^{[49] [50] [51]} . E-Commerce Services has been developing online storefronts for TSUM , the Premier League sports store and the Snow Queen chain, brands of clothing and shoes Adidas , ALBA, Carlo Pazolini, KANZ, , Nintendo , Mexx , Motivi , Oasis, Tom Tailor , Quiksilver , cosmetic brands MAC , Estée Lauder and Clinique ^{[27] [49] [52] [53] [54] [55] [56]} .

In 2012, the company invested through E-Commerce Services about 500 thousand euros in the project "Safe Purchase" - the operator of the eponymous program of voluntary certification of online stores, created in the prototype , , eKomi and other European and American quality assessment services. The investments were aimed at acquiring a service for collecting and evaluating the quality of service imobzor.ru , expanding the evaluation system used by it from 10 to 100 criteria and entering the market. Among the first to be certified were Kupivip's own sites and online stores serviced by the company ^{[57] [58]} .

In 2008, German business angel , the first investor in Brands4Friends, funded Kupivip and helped Hartmann find the first institutional investors — Luxembourg-based and ABRT, founded by Russian entrepreneurs Andrei Baronov and Ratmir Timashev . The first tranche of investments amounted to $ 3 million ^{[12] [59]} .

By the beginning of 2009, the company had spent its investments, and the agreement with new investors was broken at the last moment. Hartmann managed to negotiate a six-month deferment of payments with the largest supplier, and Mangrove Capital Partners provided the company with a bridge loan and helped to negotiate with the Russian investment company Arlan ^[2] . Already in March, the company raised an additional $ 8 million from its pool of investors, and in August, the former controlling shareholder Ozon.ru , the French company Direct Group, invested in it, which at one time introduced the German postal operator to the Russian market ^{[60 ]} .

In early 2010, the company attracted a round of investment of $ 20 million, which led the US fund Accel Partners . At this point, the company's valuation increased 10 times, the partners of the ABRT fund decided to take profits and left the asset ^[12] .

In 2011, a consortium of investors, including Mangrove Capital Partners, Accel Partners, the British fund and US Russia Partners and , invested $ 55 million in the company, a record investment for the Russian Internet market. trade ^{[61] [62] [63]} .

In 2012, the company attracted more than $ 50 million of investments: in June Accel Partners, Acton Capital Partners, Balderton Capital, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development jointly invested 38 million in Kupivip, in October funds of the investment firm bought back an additional issue of securities in the amount of 12 million euros - about 15.5 million dollars at the current rate ^[5] . The investment attractiveness of the company ensured it first place in the list of the “hottest” startups in Moscow, compiled by the English-language magazine Wired ^[64] .

In 2014, the number of co-owners of the company left the Mangrove Capital Partners fund, whose partners decided to curtail their activities in Russia and withdraw from Russian assets ^[27] .

The company first disclosed financial performance in February 2016, announcing a return on operating payback with a 1% EBITDA margin . In 2015, the company's revenue amounted to 16.5 billion rubles (about $ 265 million), showing a growth of 50% compared with 2014. The company was significantly ahead of the market, which in ruble terms grew by 16% with inflation of 13%. About 85% of the turnover came from sales to final consumers, 10% from E-Commerce Services, 5% of the total revenue was brought by Sapato.ru. The company reported 17 million registered participants, about 2 million customers and an average check of 8.5-10 thousand rubles ^{[1] [41]} .

In the ranking of the largest online stores E-Commerce Index TOP-100, compiled by the research agency Data Insight and the Ruward project group, the company took 8th place; in the list of the most expensive Russian Internet companies Forbes - 15th place with an estimate of $ 240 million ^{[65] [66] [67]} . Also in 2015, the company entered the Tech Tour Growth 50 rating, which unites the fastest growing technology companies in Europe ^[68] .

According to the SPARK system, until 2010 51.4% of Privat Trade Limited Liability Company, the holding's parent company, belonged to Oliver Young, 48.6% to Hartmann. Subsequently, the shares in the company were divided through the Cyprus registered Blacksquare Investments Limited. According to RBC , relevant for 2015, among the company's investors were Accel , Acton Capital Partners, , , Direct Group, , , Russia Partners and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development ^[13] .

From the moment the company was founded until March 2014, the post of general director of the company belonged to Oscar Hartmann . Subsequently, he moved to the presidency, and Vladimir Kholyaznikov became the new general director, before that he worked as the operational director and developed the Kupiluxe and E-Commerce Services divisions ^{[69] [70]} . Since May 2018, Oleg Minaev was appointed to the position of the new CEO of Kupivip.ru.

• Kupivip.ru – интернет-магазин одежды и обуви.
• Kupivip.by
• Kupivip.kz