Koodos makes the top 10 Apparel sites in the UK!

Retail Week list the ten most visited 'Apparel and Accessories' websites in the UK for the week ended August 9th, 2008.



The data was supplied by Hitwise.
They are:
Next.co.uk market share 6.61%
asos.com 4.99%
topshop.co.uk 3.00%
riverisland.com 2.67%
newlook.co.uk 1.92%
mandmdirect.com 1.54%
mothercare.com 1.48%
dorothyperkins.co.uk 1.40%
koodos.com 1.13%
jdsports.co.uk 1.08%

Interesting to note that only ASOS, M&M and Koodos of the top 10 are pure web businesses - all the others have extensive exposure on the high street with hundreds of stores each.


Consumers are clearly interested in the Koodos proposition of great international brands (about 120 of the world's top brands are now represented on the Koodos site)at heavily discounted prices. Especially in these credit crunch times.
See examples like Prada .... private sale coming soon.
The Koodos blog which features fashion and celebrity gossip is also getting noticed and helping to develop the brand's authority and establish its fashion credentials.

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The ‘new’ Retail craze: Private Sale

The web’s ability to disrupt well established markets or entrenched trading practices is well documented. The inexorable growth of many sectors of eCommerce at the expense of the high street continues apace.
Every now and then a new form of retailing is ‘invented’ which captures consumers imagination and represents a real threat to established players. The markets which are ripest for attack are those laden with regulation ie those where the freedom to trade in an unfettered way has been severely restricted.
In the past 5 years a new breed of on-line retailer has come out of France which has taken advantage of the years of conditioning which French, Belgian and other European consumers have been subjected to. Vente Privee is generating hundreds of millions of Euros of sales at high levels of profitability and has spawned more than a dozen copies.
Their formula is simple: a product or group of products is offered for sale for a limited period to their ‘members’. The product is usually very good value and is highly desirable.
How different is this from a retailer’s sale? Many retailers in the UK and the US have storecards (ie members) – they are often offered first crack at the bargains.
The difference is the application of rather archaic and restrictive trading laws in France, Belgium and elsewhere. These laws restrict retailers from running sales at any time other than those specified.
The Economist ran an interesting article which explains these laws more fully:

Part of the article reads as follows:
"If all this sounds fundamentally illiberal, that is because it is. One Eurocrat suggests that a key ancestor of many continental bans on unfair trading is a German law from the mid-1930s that sought to stamp out what Nazi officials called aggressive “Jewish” conduct among shopkeepers. But the laws also carry more than a whiff of distrust of capitalism itself. Belgian parliamentary papers from the late 1960s describe indignantly how some shops “deliberately” sell products at a loss to attract customers who might buy other goods at full price, a ploy referred to as “destructive” competition. Such loss-leaders were banned in Belgium in 1971, along with any selling below cost or at “extremely reduced” profit margins. This has kept the lawyers busy as the courts argue over what extremely reduced might mean. And that is why sales in Belgium are such a big deal: though offering discounts is legal at other times of the year, the sales are the only time when Belgian shopkeepers may sell goods at a loss."

Another snippet of news on a closely related topic caught my eye recently:
A union of French bookstores sued Amazon last month over the free shipping on orders over €20, saying that the cost of Amazon's delivery reduced the price of a book to one lower than allowed by the Lang Law. The booksellers were awarded €100,000 in damages in the suit, and Amazon was ordered to enact a delivery charge.
Amazon.com said that it would rather pay €1000 a day in fines than abolish its free shipping on books in France.

Readers of this blog may wonder which TAG company does this piece directly impact since I hardly ever write on subjects not directly concerning portfolio companies.
It is Koodos, the off-price branded fashion eCommerce site which has both open and closed sale platforms and is making quite a name for itself in the UK fashion scene right now. Clearly our belief is that in the US and UK, retailers run sales any day, all day - even pre Xmas - so consumers have different attitudes and are more inclined to buy on the merits of the offer itself.




Get your own partner koodos widget today ...they are starting to appear in many of the best publisher's sites.

Digivate becoming a serious digital agency

Digivate is one of TAG's oldest investments. Its positively mature. TAG invested about 7 years ago. Far from getting a 7 year itch, we're pretty excited about the way its shaping up. Profitable and cash generating from its core business of building eCommerce websites on its own open source platform, Digivate has fairly recently extended its activities beyond eCommerce and database building/email marketing into search engine marketing (SEM) and particularly into SEO.

Their approach to SEO is comprehensive. Understanding the internal structures of websites through building dozens of them certainly helps but adding a really good understanding of how contextual links works and building forums, blogs and developing (writing) appropriate content for clients all go to deliver a compelling solution.

Digivate have developed their own sophisticated SEO evaluator tool that emulates the Google search algorithm and breaks down the relevant site to identify the specific areas where improvements can be made. Its tools can also provide detailed reports of competitors' weaknesses to provide an advantage for the most competitive search terms.

The next step for Digivate is to extend their graphical and UI (User Interface)design capability

The heritage of the founders lies in catalogue mail order, direct marketing, database design and development. It shows.

Digivate clients include leading high street retail groups, catalogue companies, new internet services and financial services companies.

"Bec Clarke’s website has revolutionised the jewellery world."

Today's Sunday Times style magazine ran a 2 page article on Rebecca Clarke and her Astley Clarke Jewellery business.

This type of coverage is just what new, young eCommerce businesses need and Astley Clarke are well aware of the role that PR plays in establishing credibility and inspiring trust. With prices ranging from £35 to £6000 trust is vital and the Sunday Times together with the many other column inches which Rebecca has got is certainly helping.

Congratulations, Becs!

Direct .... from China

One of the biggest impacts on the world economy and probably the biggest factor in keeping inflation low in the Western Economies has been the emergence of China as a world's manufacturer of a huge range of quality goods.
The massive importers of goods from China such as Wallmart own dozens of factories there. All the leading retailers have buying offices and visit regularly.
Now medium-sized and small scale retailers, wholesalers and eBay traders have access directly to Chinese manufacturers and traders via DH Gate.
DH Gate have solved the problem of finding, sifting the goods on offer but more importantly have developed an escrow system backed up by a buyers rating system (similar to eBay)which gives buyers complete security that the goods will be as ordered and that payment is only released on satisfaction.
DH Gate have set up a dispute resolution process to deal with transaction problems if and when they arise.
All in all a thoroughly thought through business which is already generating multiple millions of dollars of revenue monthly and listing 2.5million items. All this in only 2 years.
Accelerator invested alongside our friends at Atlas Venture.

Glasses Direct takes on the giant opticians

It is very interesting to note the aggressive price stance being taken in the latest Specsavers press campaign.

Full pages featuring "A massive range for less than £40" - at the "UK's most trusted Optician"

[Source: Readers Digest Most Trusted Brands Survey 2007].

I think this is all very flattering for Glasses Direct, the tiny eCommerce upstart founded by Jamie Murray Wells and backed by Index and TAG amongst others.

A concerted campaign by the UK's leading opticians may slow Glasses Direct down a little but a price war is probably the last thing the high street operators need right now.

The fact is that as more and more consumers start to understand that there is relatively little mystery in buying subscription glasses on the web then Glasses Direct with their - "from the factory to the consumer" approach - is likely to keep taking market share.

Jamie has built his business on a lot more than price. The range is expanding rapidly to embrace fashion products and the service and quality that he is offering is superb.

Glasses is demonstrating a most interesting disruptive approach to a market which has paid little attention to price until recently.

Koodos using FeedCommerce

It is noticible that more and more user actions are being accomodated within the browser - not requiring new web pages to load. This undoubtedly leads to a more satisfying user experience and providing greater stickiness (to use a web 1.0 term) to publishers.
This phenomenon is now moving towards eCommerce and Koodos is an early adopter of this technology with the help of Nooked. Click on the grid below and see that you don't need to leave the publishers page to get product descriptions and price. Only at the point of transaction do you call upon the Koodos site (by all means do so and place an order).

Koodos is an ideal ecommerce application because it specialises in scarce inventory which changes daily so the feed technology keeps the offer current, exciting and relevant.
[Hot tip: If you do go to Koodos before 22nd August, make sure you register for their private sale of Diesel Jeans at only £29.99!]

Edgeio (another company in the TAG portfolio) has recently launched its paid content network enabling publishers to have their content paid for 'within the browser'.

A feature that makes it easier for consumers and publishers is one we are likely to see much more of soon.

If you know of any really great applications of FeedCommerce please comment.