Investment in a startup

The American project JustFab, an online retailer of shoes and bags, intends to lead an active international expansion. Currently, the company delivers in the United States and Canada, as well as, from this year, to Germany. The project started only in the 2010 year, but has already attracted a total of 139 million dollars for development. To date, JustFab has more than 6 million registered users, and the project page on Facebook has more than 1 million "likes".

With such business growth rates, the JustFab project is already attracting interest from experts outside of the countries covered by the delivery. And speculations that the company will soon compete with international fast fashion retailers, including Zara and H&M, do not seem absurd. It's all about a rather original approach to virtual "merchandising". Unlike other online retailers, JustFab offers users a “personalized” service. In the language of the company, this is called your personal boutique. Each potential buyer, before "examining" the JustFab assortment, undergoes a small test, choosing from the proposed options the shoes, images and images of celebrities that they like. As a result of processing the information received, an individual assortment is formed for each user. The retailer uses a “recommendation” format: a team of stylists working for show business select the latest trends and designs.

The pricing used in JustFab is also interesting. Price tags for shoes, bags and accessories in the store range from $ 49-79. However, there is also an alternative pricing format: for subscribers (VIP Program) with a monthly fee of $ 39,95, prices are automatically fixed: $ 39,95 for any item. This is how the retailer encourages regular purchases. If the subscriber does not make a single purchase within a month, a "subscription" fee of $ 39,95 is debited from his account.

Now the audience of the retailer is increasing by half a million users monthly, and the annual income in 2012 is expected to reach 100 million dollars (in 2011 - 28 million dollars). In addition, the JustFab management will direct part of the investments to expand the range - it is planned to create its own clothing collections. On the technical side, the next stage of development will be the creation of mobile applications for making purchases in JustFab. In an interview with reporters, the project management reports that the recent launch in Germany is showing results above expectations. The company will begin operations in the UK market in September. And in the first quarter of 2013, it is planned to cover several more European destinations, fashionunited.ru writes.