Brandsfavor: Vietnam’s First Private Shopping Site

"This is mine! " A possible scenario behind private shopping sites. Credit: LA Times

Members-only online shopping seems to be the in thing nowadays. First we saw Brandmile in India and just recently we received a pitch from Brandsfavor, a private online shopping site which claims to be Vietnam’s first.

Jason Vu, the CEO of Brandsfavor, told me that there are nearly 100 Groupon clones on the market and that his team wanted to create a different e-commerce experience. A private shopping club was the answer, a site where Vietnamese can get up to a 70 percent discount off branded goods. These products are usually more affordable because they are considered outdated in the fast-moving fashion industry.

Vu said that Brandsfavor was founded by a team of experienced fashion and tech professionals. And like other private shopping site, sales on Brandsfavor are based on small windows of just two to five days since supply is kind of scarce. Registered members will receive email notifications, and after that the shopping cat fight begins.

Vu further explained to me how the start-up works:

Brandsfavor’s merchandising team works with local dealers and distributors of international brands to find best deals for members. For brands which aren’t available in Vietnam, Brandsfavor buyers will source from suppliers in Europe and the US. We create new sales and marketing channels [that] benefit both customers who can buy branded products at bargain prices and retailers [who] can clear excess inventory and reach new customers.

Vietnam is a market that is often neglected. According to public data from Google, Vietnam has about 87 million people (17 times the population of Singapore). Among Vietnamese, 27.9 percent were connected to the internet as of 2009. The Internet user proportion is certainly higher now.

Vietnam is just slightly smaller than Japan and could very well have the potential to whip up a very active tech start-up scene. I’m hearing from some friends that Vietnam has some of the best developers in Southeast Asia. And I know DeNA will surely agree with me on that.

Brandsfavor is currently incubated by Vietnam Venture Group but Vu didn’t disclose if his team has gotten any investment.