- Brand Alley has received an undisclosed minority stake from Chinese etailer Vipshop
- Will use the funds to ramp up its marketing and personalise its offer
- As part of the deal BrandAlley will help bring Western brands to Vipshop
Fashion and homewares site BrandAlley has received a multi-million pound cash investment from Vipshop, a Chinese flash Sales online retailer.
BrandAlley, which completed a management buyout in 2013 from media company News International, will use the funds to personalise its website, invest in its marketing campaigns, and help it achieve its ambitions of becoming a mobile-first company.
Rob Feldmann, chief executive of BrandAlley, said: ”We’ve seen very strong growth from mobile and tablets in the last 12 months so we’ll be spending a lot on hiring more developers here in the UK. We also want to personalise our offers more to our members and personalise the site and emails for our customers.”
Ultimately, he said, the investment will be used to increase conversions and engagement.
Also as a result of the deal, BrandAlley will leverage its relationship with Western brands to help set up the labels on Vishop, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and reported total net revenue of $3.8 bn (£2.5bn) in 2014.
BrandAlley will send the marketing materials over to Vishop and handle the logistics of sending the products to China.
Feldmann said: “We know there’s opportunity for British brands to test the market in China.”
This month, BrandAlley refreshed its TV advertising campaign with a new soundtrack from British band Lawson. Feldmann said further investment in TV and online marketing would continue into 2016.
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