Ebay buys online fashion club

Global auction site, eBay has announced it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire all of the shares of brands4friends, Germany's largest online shopping club for fashion and lifestyle, for approximately US$200 million (EUR150 million).

The move is designed to strengthen eBay's position as a leading online fashion destination in Europe, as online shopping clubs account for approximately 20 per cent of all online fashion sales in Europe, according to eBay’s own research.

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nded in 2007, brands4friends has approximately 3.5 million members in Germany, and has held a wide variety of campaigns with more than 600 top brands, including international fashion brands such as Buffalo, Calvin Klein and Diesel.

As part of the deal, eBay will assume brands4friends' equity interests in U.K. shopping club SecretSales.com and in Japan,brands4friends.jp. The acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approval among other conditions, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2011.

"eBay is the perfect partner for us," said Sergio Dias, Chief Executive Officer of brands4friends. "We are able to bring our retail and brand competence and industry knowledge to eBay, and we can expect to benefit from eBay's traffic and ecommerce experience to accelerate the growth of our shopping community."