Mass Customization in Online Fashion E-Commerce: Indochino CEO Kyle Vucko (Part 3)

Kyle Vucko: A smaller handful of my mentors got very engaged with the business planning process, providing feedback every few weeks. After being unsuccessful in getting the money in the business plan competitions, I went back and told one of them that we want to raise money and take this to the next level. He agreed immediately and offered some terms. I also talked to some other people and put together a mini-angel. Within a month of that first meeting, we had raised $40,000 to get the idea from concept to reality, build a website, and prove that we could sell a single suit over the web through customer measurements. That’s how it happened. The actual process of raising money in my case was very easy, but it was actually the result of months of relationship building.

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Mass Customization in Online Fashion E-Commerce: Indochino CEO Kyle Vucko (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Let’s stay in the 2006 to 2007 timeframe. I’m assuming that you’re talking about a period when you hadn’t yet started the business because all of these things had to be in place to launch a custom tailoring shop, right?

Kyle Vucko: Right.

Sramana Mitra: So you identified one or two tailors in China and then you launched this site?

Kyle Vucko: We had to track down a couple of tailors. We had to learn how they measured.

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Building a Global Software Company From Australia: Bigcommerce Co-Founder Mitch Harper (Part 7)

Sramana Mitra: So merchants in India can pay in Indian currency to subscribe to Bigcommerce? There is a problem in India with currency as you know.

Mitch Harper: They have to pay us in US dollars, but they can accept in their local currency.

Sramana Mitra: That’s an issue in India. A lot of people find it difficult to buy services in USD.

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Building a Global Software Company From Australia: Bigcommerce Co-Founder Mitch Harper (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: By now, you are now in your Series B phase. You have already leveraged your install base from your previous company. What has been the primary customer acquisition strategy in the scaling phase? I do see you advertising a lot online.

Mitch Harper: I wouldn’t say there’s one main channel. I’m really good at optimizing – using Google AdWords, using retargeting, using content marketing through the blog and YouTube, and working with design agencies as well. We work with 2,500 >>>

Building a Global Software Company From Australia: Bigcommerce Co-Founder Mitch Harper (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: What was your revenue level in 2010? The 9,800 customers translated into what kind of revenue level?

Mitch Harper: Our average per user back then was about $40 per month. It was somewhere around $5 million to $10 million at that time.

Sramana Mitra: What were the milestones that you set for yourself with your Series A financing?

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Web 3.0 and Online Fashion

Excerpt from my new book, From eCommerce To Web 3.0.

In 1999, long before fashion on the Internet actually took off, I started a company called Uuma. It was a traditional venture-backed personalized fashion startup that received an acquisition offer from Ralph Lauren before the company was caught in the first dotcom crash.

I am going to articulate the vision behind Uuma, particularly because that vision still remains unrealized. I hope that some entrepreneur, somewhere, will execute on it.

As you know, I define Web 3.0 as a verticalized, personalized user experience. The web is still utterly fragmented. You have to go to different places to find information about the same context. I have long had the vision of a personalized Saks Fifth Avenue. I want my store — my personal store — that carries merchandise that applies to me; that suits my hair color, eye color, skin tone, body shape and personal style. I want it to stock my favorite designers and more like those. And I want to see articles and community discussions that are specific to my interests.
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China’s LightInTheBox Helps Sell Chinese Products Abroad

According to eMarketer, global business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce sales are estimated to grow 20% to $1.5 trillion this year. The growth is attributed to increased adoption of online and mobile devices in emerging markets and higher penetration of features such as advancing shipping and payment options, as well as the thrust into international markets by bigger brands. In fact, this is expected to be the first year when the Asia-Pacific market will outgrow the North American market with sales in Asia-Pacific estimated at $525.2 billion versus $482.6 billion in North America. Not surprisingly, China will be the largest market in the region. Here is an interesting infographic from the report showing the high e-Commerce growth anticipated by emerging markets.

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Tuniu Rising High on Luxury Travel

According to iResearch, the Chinese online travel market is expected to grow from $46 billion in 2014 to $75 billion in 2017. A more conservative estimate for the market was released by PhoCusWright, which estimates the market to be worth $30.3 billion by 2015 and that it will account for 24% of China’s travel bookings by 2015.

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