Brazilian e-commerce heavyweight Buscapé Company has bought social commerce platform ShopCliq.it, the companies announced today.
ShopCliq.it hopes to redefine the way Brazilian users discover and buy new products online, its co-founder Todd Cohen explains. “In the platform, users can easily find their favorite brands, friends and what’s trending in fashion, design and tech,” he says.
From a visual perspective, ShopCliq.it could be described as a Pinterest for online shopping, with a heavy focus on discovery. Here’s what its home page looks like:
Shopcliq’s algorithm also offers increasingly personalized content to its users, based on their personal tastes and their online connections. “The more people indicate the products they want, the more personalized the user experience becomes enabling for greater discovery of new products from any point on the Internet,” says Cohen.
Following the acquisition, ShopCliq.it is now working on growing its business, with a roadmap that includes a redesign and the launch of native mobile apps.
As you may know, Buscapé launched in 1999 as a shopping comparison website. Acquired in 2009 by South African group Naspers for US$342 million, it has now become a diversified holding.
As a matter of fact, Shopcliq.it isn’t Buscapé’s first acquisition; previous deals include advertising platform Lomadee and daily deal aggregator SaveMe, not to mention its startup competition, ‘Your Idea is Worth $1 Million.’ All of these now form part of Buscapé’s brand portfolio.
According to Buscapé Company’s Vice President Business Development and Strategies, Guga Stocco, Shopcliq.it adds a new dimension to the growing e-commerce segment:
“People are increasingly interested and accustomed to making purchases online. But what gets attention on ShopCliq.it is the fact that it provides a true exchange of information among friends, highlighting the hottest new product trends on the market and providing a platform to interact with each other.”
If Buscapé’s founder and CEO Romero Rodrigues is to be believed, other acquisitions could follow:
“We are very pleased to close the deal with a company with great potential, as Shopcliq.it. Especially because, every day, we have shown that we are always looking for innovative businesses that will add to and help the company to continue providing the best Internet services in Latin America,” he says.
In other words, don’t be surprised if Buscapé acquires other Latin American ventures over the next few months.
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