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Hey Ladies, I stumbled across this article on Forbes Woman's website. Thought you all would find it interesting. Not sure what it means for the future of our boxes!
From: http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2012/09/13/birchbox-goes-global-acquires-paris-based-copycat-joliebox/
In a bit of scrambling news, discovery retail operation Birchbox announced today that it has acquired Paris-based competitor JolieBox, establishing themselves as a global brand without missing a single day of business. With the move, Birchbox will be available outside of the U.S. in France, Spain and the U.K.
“When we woke up this morning, we definitely didn’t think we’d be breaking the news this way,†said cofounder Katia Beauchamp this afternoon by phone. But after a work-in-progress press release slipped through the French newswire and landed on a legal blog there was no going back. Financial details of the acquisition have not been made available but Birchbox has raised nearly $12 million since its Fall 2010 launch.
Birchbox, for the uninitiated, is the NYC-based business of Beauchamp and fellow Harvard alum Haley Barna, is a subscription-based service that delivers a monthly box of beauty samples to your door. If you like the samples, you can log on to Birchbox to learn more about the products and buy full-sized items. If not, no big deal. Next month’s box is only 29 days away.
In two years, Birchbox has seen dramatic growth, both in bringing new consumers on board and partnering with major brands like Stila and Benefit. Subscribers number more than 100,000, and Beauchamp brags of a 20% monthly rate of growth in the past year, most garnered strictly by word-of-mouth advertising. This Spring Katia and Beauchamp launched Birchbox Man.
The decision to go global, then, was more of a “when†than an “if.†“We’ve had the vision of global growth since day one,†says Beauchamp, “Because our value proposition really knows know borders.â€
So when a conversation with a Paris-based competitor (JolieBox offers a near-identical service overseas and launched just eight months after Birchbox. The Birchbox ladies say they hold no grudge over copycats. I don’t buy it.) turned serious this Summer, Beauchamp felt the time—and conditions—were right for a merger. “We had been watching them for some time,†Beauchamp says. As the leader of the “discovery retail†movement in the U.S., the number of copycat operations that cropped up in its wake were many. “But JolieBox was one who we’ve always respected. We felt strongly that we had a shared vision and that they embraced discovery commerce in the same way that we did.â€
In the months that followed, the details of the merger fell into place.“Every phonecall, every meeting we have feels better and better,†she says of new colleague, JolieBox CEO Quentin Vacher, who will continue as the head of the France office and oversee Birchbox’s business in Europe. His title is, thanks to this morning’s rushed news, still TBD, but Barna and Beauchamp say the ability to expand globally overnight with a team already in place is the best possible acquisition arrangement.
JolieBox has been temporarily rebranded as “JolieBox, a Birchbox company†while new packaging and marketing materials are created to roll the entire European operation into the Birchbox brand. The first overseas Birchbox branding will appear in the United Kingdom, with other countries following suit in the coming months.
When asked about the biggest challenges might face her, a founder of only 24 months, in operating a global company with more than 400 brand partners after the acquisition, Beauchamp points to her strong partnership with the JolieBox team. “They’re able to continue to operate their business,†she says. “They know how it’s done, and it’s almost like a younger sister situation. We can share our insights and our best practices, of course, but they absolutely know what they’re doing. We couldn’t be happier.â€
From: http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2012/09/13/birchbox-goes-global-acquires-paris-based-copycat-joliebox/
In a bit of scrambling news, discovery retail operation Birchbox announced today that it has acquired Paris-based competitor JolieBox, establishing themselves as a global brand without missing a single day of business. With the move, Birchbox will be available outside of the U.S. in France, Spain and the U.K.
“When we woke up this morning, we definitely didn’t think we’d be breaking the news this way,†said cofounder Katia Beauchamp this afternoon by phone. But after a work-in-progress press release slipped through the French newswire and landed on a legal blog there was no going back. Financial details of the acquisition have not been made available but Birchbox has raised nearly $12 million since its Fall 2010 launch.
Birchbox, for the uninitiated, is the NYC-based business of Beauchamp and fellow Harvard alum Haley Barna, is a subscription-based service that delivers a monthly box of beauty samples to your door. If you like the samples, you can log on to Birchbox to learn more about the products and buy full-sized items. If not, no big deal. Next month’s box is only 29 days away.
In two years, Birchbox has seen dramatic growth, both in bringing new consumers on board and partnering with major brands like Stila and Benefit. Subscribers number more than 100,000, and Beauchamp brags of a 20% monthly rate of growth in the past year, most garnered strictly by word-of-mouth advertising. This Spring Katia and Beauchamp launched Birchbox Man.
The decision to go global, then, was more of a “when†than an “if.†“We’ve had the vision of global growth since day one,†says Beauchamp, “Because our value proposition really knows know borders.â€
So when a conversation with a Paris-based competitor (JolieBox offers a near-identical service overseas and launched just eight months after Birchbox. The Birchbox ladies say they hold no grudge over copycats. I don’t buy it.) turned serious this Summer, Beauchamp felt the time—and conditions—were right for a merger. “We had been watching them for some time,†Beauchamp says. As the leader of the “discovery retail†movement in the U.S., the number of copycat operations that cropped up in its wake were many. “But JolieBox was one who we’ve always respected. We felt strongly that we had a shared vision and that they embraced discovery commerce in the same way that we did.â€
In the months that followed, the details of the merger fell into place.“Every phonecall, every meeting we have feels better and better,†she says of new colleague, JolieBox CEO Quentin Vacher, who will continue as the head of the France office and oversee Birchbox’s business in Europe. His title is, thanks to this morning’s rushed news, still TBD, but Barna and Beauchamp say the ability to expand globally overnight with a team already in place is the best possible acquisition arrangement.
JolieBox has been temporarily rebranded as “JolieBox, a Birchbox company†while new packaging and marketing materials are created to roll the entire European operation into the Birchbox brand. The first overseas Birchbox branding will appear in the United Kingdom, with other countries following suit in the coming months.
When asked about the biggest challenges might face her, a founder of only 24 months, in operating a global company with more than 400 brand partners after the acquisition, Beauchamp points to her strong partnership with the JolieBox team. “They’re able to continue to operate their business,†she says. “They know how it’s done, and it’s almost like a younger sister situation. We can share our insights and our best practices, of course, but they absolutely know what they’re doing. We couldn’t be happier.â€
