French luxury shopping website Ventee-privee.com is now training its eyes on America. The shopping site has teamed up with American Express in a bid to tap into United States’ luxury goods consumers. Vente-privee and Amercian Express have formed a joint venture in order to exploit this promising market. On Thursday, both firms announced that the two would be equal partners. Vente-privee’s chief executive Jacques-Antoine Granjon told the press in New York that both firms would be investing $20 million each in this venture. He added that the new shopping site would be launched in the US by year-end.
Meanwhile, American Express is interested in bringing more high-end luxury consumers under its gambit. The credit card company has been working on increasing its base among the wealthy, especially through e-commerce. The company has been working on increasing its presence in this market that is also dominated by Visa and MasterCard. American Express has been in expansion mode in this sector ever since it hired longtime mobile executive Dan Schulman. Schulman admitted that the venture would bring together two brands that are looking at “creating ecommerce opportunities” that customers and businesses could gain from.
As for Vente-privee, the luxury shopping site is concerned with selling luxury fashion and lifestyle items from top designer brands. However, the difference is that the shopping site sells these items at heavily discounted prices. The members-only site buys excess inventory off big luxury brands and sells them to an exclusive clientele at lower prices without damaging the brand image. The e-commerce site has 13 million members, and since its launch in 2001, the site has sold goods worth $1 billion in Europe.
Via: Reuters
