RANDA EXPANDS DIGITAL CAPABILITIES WITH BOMBFELL ACQUISITION
Randa Apparel & Accessories is expanding its digital capabilities with the acquisition of a robust e-commerce platform, customer file, know-how, source code, and certain other assets of men’s subscription service Bombfell. The company’s founders, Bernie Yoo, Jason Kim, and Sarah Lee, will also be joining Randa to accelerate the company’s digital initiatives.
Bombfell, founded in Silicon Valley in 2011, is a venture-backed personal styling service that combines data science with real stylists. By leveraging a proprietary technology platform and predictive algorithms to provide consumers with a one-to-one personalized experience at digital scale, Bombfell generated nearly $100 million in revenue from over one million customers.
Through a partnership with one of America’s largest department stores, Bombfell algorithms generated immediate, meaningful, and positive results. Bombfell’s wholesale optimization model drove industry-leading purchase rates, extraordinary customer loyalty, and retention rates, and yielded an average unit selling price at twice the retailer’s average.
“Our acquisition of these assets from Bombfell and the hiring of its founders is a key pillar in our strategy to seize upon the accelerated growth in digital demand resulting from changes in consumer behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Heath L. Golden, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Randa Apparel & Accessories. “Our acquisition thesis was five-fold. First, to serve our growing need for high-quality data-driven decision making. Second, to hire exceptional digital talent and data scientists to explore and exploit our consumer’s increasing digital demands. Third, to acquire a best-in-class e-commerce platform built and refined over a 10-year period at a significant expense. Fourth, to accelerate our online direct-to-consumer business units. And finally, to provide our wholesale customers with another Randa tool to improve their, and our, sales, turn and profitability.”
“Joining the Randa team allows Jason, Sarah, and myself to focus on developing technology, data science, and tools that drive consumer engagement,” said Yoo. “Randa’s leadership and scope in men’s, women’s and children’s apparel and accessories and deep partnerships across the retail spectrum provides us with the resources, reach and relationships to leverage everything we’ve learned at great scale and speed. We look forward to this next step in our great adventure.”
“Randa’s strategic roadmap of ‘Moats, Boats & Bridges’ consists of getting better at what we do best; extending into adjacent classifications, and distribution channels; and, reaching into new, to us, transformative business models,” added Golden. “This acquisition fits all three of our strategic initiatives. We could not be more excited to see the outsized results that Bernie, Jason, and Sarah will help us to deliver for the sake of all of our stakeholders.”
According to a message on Bombfell’s website, the subscription service – as it is in its current form – will cease operations at the end of the month. “After 10 years pioneering the then-crazy idea of having an online personal stylist, it is with a heavy heart that we inform you that Bombfell is unable to continue operations,” the message says. “Over the last decade, we’ve poured our blood, sweat, and tears into building Bombfell and it is heartbreaking for us to have to deliver this message to you and close our doors. Your encouragement and support sustained us through it all, and it has meant everything to us to be there for you through your engagements, weddings, interviews, and new jobs. Our lives won’t be the same without you.”
According to the heartfelt goodbye message, Bombfell has stopped accepting new registrations and will continue to accept returns and process refunds through October 31st for shipments already in progress.
