It was a stroke of genius to create a website that would enable major fashion brands to sell off their unsold items more quickly on the Internet. That's what current CEO Jacques-Antoine Granjon and his partners had in mind when they created Vente-privee.com in 2001. In its early days, the company began by organizing event-based ready-to-wear sales. Later, it expanded its areas of activity, bringing together all its international brands on a single site, before officially becoming Veepee in 2019.
What's the story? How has Veepee succeeded in establishing itself in the market? What are its goals for the coming years? Focus on the adventure of the French Tech Unicorn.
The story of the French Tech Unicorn
In the early 2000s in France, the online fashion market was not yet appealing to the majority of households. In those days, Internet users were reluctant to give out their confidential credit card details online. Brands, meanwhile, were reluctant to sell their products at knock-down prices. Despite this context, this did not stop the French entrepreneur and his colleagues from banking on online commerce. Driven by the democratization of the web, Veepee is now one of France's 22 unicorns, valued at over a billion euros, and is becoming the benchmark for online sales.
The creation of the platform
In 1985, Jacques-Antonin Granjon graduated from the European Business School in Paris. After graduating, he set up his own business with his friend Julien Sorbac. Together, they created Cofotex S.A., a wholesaler of end-of-line products. At the time, the company was headquartered in La Plaine-Saint-Denis, in the former printing works of the newspaper Le Monde. In 2000, they entered the e-commerce market with Vente-privee.com. Four years later, it was their first victory: a famous lingerie brand was a success on their platform.
Rapid expansion through successful partnerships
On June 10, 2005, one of the partners created Société Financière Saint James to develop the brand in the United States and Paris. Then, in 2007, 20% of the company's capital was acquired by the American fund Summit Partners. As a result, the company expanded into a number of European countries, including the Netherlands in 2011. Following a joint venture with American Express, the site also arrived in the United States in the same year.
Business diversification
In February 2009, Veepee entered the music distribution market with the exclusive "Kabaret" album by singer Patricia Kaas. In the years that followed, the brand duplicated the same strategy, offering exclusives in other fields, including sports and entertainment. Towards the end of 2012, the brand began marketing capsule collections of limited-edition garments.
In 2016, Veepee attracted attention with its takeover of Spanish site Privalia. The value of the transaction is estimated at between 470 and 500 million euros. At the same time, the group acquires Eboutic.ch, a Swiss site also specializing in event-based sales.
Veepee is still very much in the news in 2016, and continues to acquire sites operating in the same sector as itself. The brand has thus acquired two other major sites, Denmark's Designers & Friends and Poland's Zlotewyprzedaze.
In 2017, Le Petit Ballon, a leading site for the sale of wine by subscription, was in turn taken over by the group, which became the majority shareholder. The specialist wine platform had 60,000 subscribers in 2017 and sales of 8 million euros.
Through the Covid crisis
Despite the Covid crisis in 2019, Veepee has turned the situation to its advantage by offering freelance work to its team. In fact, this work concept is not a first for the brand. According to the company's CEO, it even shapes a new state of mind for its employees. Carrying out a freelance task allows them to be more autonomous and responsible, but above all, less stressed. After the Covid crisis, freelance work was maintained at Veepee in some of the company's divisions.
Acquisition of Théâtre de Paris and Théâtre la Michodière
Veepee has acquired the Théâtre de Paris and the Théâtre de la Michodière, located in the second arrondissement of Paris. Its CEO, himself a great lover of art and culture, plans to expand his activities in his chosen fields. So, with his platform, he gives artists the opportunity to promote their albums and produce or co-produce on stage. Consumers, for their part, are not left out either, as tickets go on sale at attractive rates. The buyout has enabled the organization of special cultural events such as the Lalala music festival. For three days, spectators enjoyed the presence of renowned artists such as Keziah Jones, Suzanne Vega, Ayo and Arthur H.
Veepee, France's favorite fashion brand
Every day, some 2.5 to 3 million people log on to the site to take advantage of special offers negotiated with major brands. Items are offered at affordable prices, with discounts of up to 70%. This attracts millions of Internet users from all over the world. According to statistics, the site welcomes almost 4.5 million unique visitors every day. Having enjoyed success in the clothing sector, Veepee is now expanding into fashion accessories, cosmetics, travel, home furnishings, toys and leisure.
Apart from that, users can access "The Place", a marketplace designed to connect brands. The aim is to enable brands to manage their own promotions on recently released collections. For the l'Oréal group, for example, this concept has enabled its brands to be grouped together in a single location. In this way, Internet users can make multiple purchases of items from different categories. These range from FMCG products to parapharmacy and luxury goods.
In fact, customer proximity is a core concern for the brand, which has even made it its business model. The fact that it has been awarded the status of best customer service in 2019 will therefore be a matter of course.
What next?
The next step for the startup is to support a long-term strategy to transform and innovate the digitization of fashion. To this end, an initial partnership has been signed between the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Veepee. The financing agreement amounts to 80 million euros and will, among other things, promote product creation and expand offerings via new online purchasing tools. The aim is to offer consumers a more comprehensive range of products and services at competitive prices.
On the one hand, the EIB's financing of Veepee is an acknowledgement of the pioneer of event-driven sales. It will enable the creation of a unique, benchmark platform for the sale and distribution of major brands in Europe. In addition, the European Investment Bank's action represents a genuine development lever for the brand in a context of tough competition.
Veepee: key information
Workforce
In 2020, the company had 5,500 employees in 10 countries, of 86 different nationalities.
Sales figures
In 2021, the group generated sales of 3.2 billion euros (incl. VAT) thanks to 7,000 partnerships with major retailers. It has over 66 million members.
Initial public offering
When asked, CEO Jacques-Antoine Granjon said: "We have no plans for an IPO at the moment.
Business and strategic objectives
- Veepee Voyage saw its sales fall by 400 million euros before the health crisis. However, two years on, the situation has been quickly rectified and figures are beginning to stabilize. Veepee intends to boost the profitability of this business.
- One of Veepee's plans is to set up an Upcycling initiative. The idea is to process unsold items on the platform, as well as second-hand items received, in order to resell them and put them back into circulation on the market.
- The French platform envisages a resale concept open to users, enabling customers to exchange products.
Scalability
Veepee's future looks bright, as twenty years after its creation, it has managed to join the list of 22 French unicorns worth over a billion euros. More than half of its sales are generated in France, including the capital, Paris. The company is always looking to expand its activities, whether in France or elsewhere, and is always on the lookout for new sales concepts.