Fashion-focused e-retailer JustFab has bought similarly named European members-only shoes e-retailer The Fab Shoes, which operates in France and Spain.
The acquisition gives JustFab, which sells in Germany and the United Kingdom, footholds in more of Europe.
JustFab, which sells shoes, handbags and other items, says it will fold The Fab Shoes team into its European division. The Fab Shoes CEO Pablo Szefner will become JustFab’s managing director for France and Spain and its chief operating officer, Xisco de la Calle, will become vice president of operations for Europe. They will report to Gerrit Mueller, president of JustFab in Europe. The Fab Shoes keeps it headquarters in Barcelona, Spain.
JustFab says that it will rebrand The Fab Shoes as JustFab by July.
The deal is part of JustFab’s strategy to operate in every Western European country within the next few years, says Adam Goldenberg, the retailer’s co-founder and co-CEO. “We’re building one global brand,” he says. The retailer raised $76 million last year to help fund those expansion efforts.
JustFab is primarily a subscription retailer that, for $39.95 a month, offers members items tailored to their tastes each month. JustFab sends members monthly e-mails describing the items the retailer sells. That keeps members returning to the site, which makes them particularly engaged as customers, says Goldenberg. The retailer’s members can skip buying any month, as long as they notify JustFab by the fifth of the month. Shoppers can also pay a premium price—between $49 to $69 per item—to buy items without becoming a member, although less than 1% of consumers do, he says.
JustFab says it has more than 15 million members—1.5 million of whom are in Germany and the United Kingdom—and that The Fab Shoes has about 500,000 members.
JustFab, which is owned by Intelligent Beauty Inc., says that it expects to generate $250 million in revenue this year, about $215 million of which will come from U.S. sales. Last year the retailer, No. 201 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, had $100 million in sales. It expects its North American operations to turn a profit this year, Goldenberg says.