The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
NEW YORK, United States — Online cosmetics retailer Birchbox has discussed a potential sale with several retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc, tech news website Recode reported on Wednesday.
Talks took place between Wal-Mart's US e-commerce chief Marc Lore and Birchbox co-founder and chief executive officer Katia Beauchamp, Recode reported, citing sources.
If Wal-Mart were to buy Birchbox, it would represent the retail giant's fifth e-commerce acquisition since last August.
Wal-Mart has snapped up online retailers such as men's fashion website Bonobos as it seeks to bridge the gap with e-commerce leader Amazon.com Inc.
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Birchbox has raised more than $80 million from investors since it was founded in 2010, in addition to previously undisclosed venture debt that the startup secured in 2015, Recode reported.
That debt is coming due in early 2018, but Birchbox has multiple offers on the table to restructure it, which is expected to alleviate any pressure to sell, the report added.
Birchbox did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Wal-Mart declined to comment.
By Vibhuti Sharma; Editor: Sai Sachin Ravikumar.
At The Business of Fashion’s Professional Summit in New York last week, Sona Abaryan, partner and global retail and luxury sector lead at tech-enabled data science firm Ekimetrics, shared how businesses can more effectively leverage AI-driven insights on consumer behaviour to achieve a customer-centric strategic approach.
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