if we asked you if you know Chicfyit is very likely that you would answer us “Of course yes, handsome”, but what you may not know is the amazing story of Chicfy, one of the most successful apps for buying and selling used clothing in Spain, which works very well for a film script. A story of ups and downs that has come (at least for now) to an end: Chicfy has been bought by its rival Vinted, for an amount close to 10 million euros.
On November 12 Chicfy’s story comes to an end: Vinted buys its rival
The beginning of the end of Chicfy’s history began to be written in 2018, with the arrival of the lithuanian Vinted to Spain. A company that has the backing of large international investors and that entered our market with a very aggressive commercial policy, which involved charging sellers less than half that of Chicfy (7% compared to 20% commission per sale).
Looking back, it seems clear that the Spanish company was unable (or unable) to cope with the entry of Vinted, and the resulting financial problems added to a general lack of investor confidence, that in 2018 they did not support the investment round with which the Chicfy board intended to gain financial muscle. A weakness that ended up motivating Vinted to have absorbed it for an undisclosed amount,
As Chicfy herself has explained on her blog:
We have news for you: As of October 14, the Chicfy platform will only be available in reading mode and will stop working on November 12. Thank you very much for joining us during these 6 years.
We know that you are wondering, what happens now, how will I find my new looks and sell my clothes? Well don’t worry, because we are going to make things easy for you: you can switch to Vinted, the international second-hand fashion platform. Chicfy and Vinted have collaborated to create a tool that will allow you to transfer your profile, your wardrobe and your ratings. You will be able to keep your most important information when you move to Vinted!
The Vinted community has millions of members just like you who are eager to buy your clothes and give you a discount. In addition, at Vinted you can buy and sell in Spain, but also in other European countries. You will now have access to fashion from , Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, and with more people seeing your ads, selling will be a piece of cake.”
But… how did the company get to this point?What is the beginning of the Chicfy story and how did it develop?
Nono and Laura: two lucky creatives
in the incredible history of Chicfy go back until 2008when Nono Ruiz and Laura Munoz, a young couple who had experience in the fashion sector since they had worked in retails in the sector for years. With an ideal in mind, they jumped into the entrepreneurial world and decided set up your own business. But which?
The logical thing for a couple of guys with retail experience would have been a fashion store, and in fact they thought of a sneaker store, but the high costs of rentals in Granada In addition to the exclusivity of the stores with important brands, they made it impossible. So why not? They decided to set up a bar.
For this they counted on the almost 80,000 euros of a mortgagewhich implied payments of 1,500 euros per month, plus expenses. But when joining the lack of experience in hostelry, with the crisis that was lived, coupled with the fact that in Spain there are more than 260,000 barsthe couple’s dreams came crashing down and the disaster ended in closing per year.
But not even the millionaire debts that they carried back then, which would take nothing more and nothing less than 16 years to pay off, not even having been left without a job did they beat them. Although it is true that we have all gone through difficult situations at some point, something that Nono and Laura make clear to us is that light will always be seen at the end of the tunnelbut you have to walk through it to leave it behind.
At this point, the first thing that came to mind was continue in the fashion retail sectoras sellers, and their previous experience made the road easier for them, but Not even adding their salaries were they able to make ends meet.
But as if it were a classic movie storywhen everything is worse and it seems that the protagonists will not be able to do more, in 2011 Antena 3 begins to call a casting to attract new contestants for your program “Catch a million” that was more focused on entertainment and selling good stories… and Nono and Laura did have it.
Chicfy’s story is born like a phoenix
And with Catch a Million, Nono and Laura got it! Well, not a million, but they did manage to win nothing more and nothing less than €175,000, which was enough for pay off your bank debt. Expenses more, expenses less, they stayed with 5,000 euros and from there was born, finally, Chicfy.
Suddenly the lightbulb of the ingenuity turned on with chicfy’s ideain which the girls buy and sell the clothes they do not want among themselves: at that time in Spain there was only eBay and Segundamano, and the need to have “a closet emptier”, according to Nono Ruizmade this new virtual clothing market see the light in 2013.
The big idea is not just a peer-to-peer ad platform: Chicfy facilitates the transaction between buying and selling (retaining a 20% commission) in addition to organizing the shipment through and Nacexwith which the users can acquire peace of mind not worrying about the whole process.
maximum creativity
But now it was necessary make it known and of course a campaign costs a lot of money, so the initial bet was recruit ten fashion bloggers: Lovely Pepa, Maria Jose Suarez and Elena Tabada among others, they were the pioneers in posting their wardrobe on the web and it was a complete success since the first day managed to get 60 salesgaining users and it grew like foam, closing its first just six months for 60,000 euros.
From then on, Chicfy’s growth steadily accelerated, they moved to new offices in Malaga, and passed two new rounds of financing in 2014 and 2015 with which who got 960,000 euros more. Chicfy could boast of being the largest virtual fashion market in Spain whose turnover went from 250,000 euros in 2013 to 20 million in 2016!
In 2017 Chicfy already had 47 million visits per year and more than seven million users after capturing the public with ads and its in which “Of course yes, handsome” was the culmination (whether you like the song or not) to a marketing strategy that involved a surge in sales and popularity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6StimAMt2Uw
However, this entire expansive cycle of Chicfy came to an end with the entry into Spain of Vinted. Now, Chicfy belongs to the Lithuanian company but… what will its future be?
Do you want to know more about the history of big names in marketing and eCommerce? How about you take a look at these other articles?
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