Is Vancl Giving Up the Dream and Becoming Just Another E-Commerce Platform?

China’s Vancl has always stood out in the world of e-commerce, and not just because of its often eye-catching celebrity endorsements. The company has always set itself apart by selling only its own branded clothing on Vancl.com, and though it did offer third party clothing on its separate V+ platform, now it seems the company may have abandoned its dreams of exclusivity, as more and more third-party clothing items are finding their way onto Vancl.com itself. In the screenshot below, for example, you can see a lot of Elle-branded clothing that’s available directly on Vancl.com.

The integration of third-party clothes onto Vancl itself marks a strategic shift for the company. When V+ was launched back in 2010, Vancl executives explained that Vancl.com would remain a “brand shop” while V+ was more like an online department store or mall. But if Vancl.com is now selling other brands, it begs the question of whether V+ has a future or whether the company is planning to completely integrate it into Vancl.com and has abandoned the dream of single-brand e-commerce platform.

Vancl has not announced any such plans, but clothing vendors that spoke with Sina Tech told the news portal that privately, they had been advised that Vancl would become a more traditional e-commerce platform rather than remaining a branded shop. On the other hand, though, the company does not seem to be advertising or promoting any of the third-party products on Vancl.com at all, so customers can only find them via searches at present.

So is Vancl really headed towards full-on integration with V+ and the shift to being an e-commerce platform rather than a clothing brand? Only time will tell. But it certainly seems as though the company is headed in that direction.

(via Sina Tech)