Social commerce site Little Black Bag raised $8 million in its second round of financing.
But in this version, shoppers get to buy a mystery bag filled with womens fashion products mostly jewelry and purses and then trade the items they dont want with others online.
They can then trade items online with other women until they have assembled their ideal collection.
The exchange factor adds in a gaming component to shopping on Little Black Bag.
The ability to swap items creates interaction between users that not only drives engagement on the site, but also drives consumer engagement with brands.
The products on the site are circulated, as women send and accept trades.
Chief Executive Officer Dan Murillo said in a statement that LBB generates over 10 million peer to peer brand impressions per month across social media networks, which makes it a powerful marketing platform.
The company says the campaign resulted in one million social media impressions.
Users purchase their bag for either a $49.95 or $59.95 monthly subscription, and if they do not like their selection, can trade until satisfied.
The companys inspiration comes from “fukubukuro,” a Japanese New Years Day tradition where merchants sell grab bags filled with unknown objects at substantial discounts.
Building off this idea, Little Black Bag launched in January of 2012 and received $2.75 million from GRP, DCM Chamath Palihapitiya, Tim Kendall and David Tisch in February.
This second round was also led by GRP Partners, with participation from DCM and brings the total raise to $10.75 million.
The money will go towards expanding the marketing and merchandising teams, acquiring more users, adding more brands, and developing the products.
And we have that whole undertone of escapism in our products that really was the inspiration for the brand.
Claire Cain is a fashion journalist based in Brisbane, Australia. Claire has a passion for fashion stories and loves writing about fashion news and fashion opinions that matters most to its audience. Claire spends a lot of time discovering and researching latest fashion industry news stories in order to make sure the latest and greatest stories are brought to you first on Stylerchic.com.
