Thursday, October 7, 2010

Things Get More Crowded For HauteLook, As Amazon Gets BuyVIP

The online, flash sales market for fashion is looking to a bit more crowded this week for Los Angeles-based HauteLook, as Amazon.com said that it had acquired BuyVIP.com. BuyVIP.com is a Spanish operator of a fashion and lifestyle site, which serves the European market with flash fashion sales, similar to HauteLook. HauteLook already has lots of competition in the U.S. market from such competitors as Gilt Group, Ideeli, and Beyond the Rack. HauteLook is among the earlier firms in the industry, having started in December of 2007, and became profitable earlier this year. HauteLook is headed by Adam Bernhard, is backed by Insight Venture Partners, and recently raised a big round to give it some ammunition in an increasingly crowded market. Amazon.com did not say if it plans to apply BuyVIP's business model to the U.S. market, where it does not yet have a flash sales property.

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