Birchbox, a US-based ecommerce company that sells monthly subscriptions of sample-size beauty and grooming products, has just announced its first acquisition: Paris-based JolieBox, its eerily similar European counterpart.
JolieBox launched a year after Birchbox with the exact same model, and while at the time Birchbox founders Hayley Barna and Katia Beauchamp might have been furious (that’s my bet), the JolieBox acquisition now opens the door to heaps of european subscribers and partnerships with as many as 200 French and international cosmetic brands.
According to Beauchamp, this move is all about scale:
The delight of discovery extends across any border and to any culture. JolieBox, with their like-minded team and brand ethos, is the absolute perfect partner to build relationships with new customers and brand partners internationally while simultaneously improving distribution as we scale.
With this move, Birchbox will soon be available in France, Spain and the UK, as well as across the US. It looks like the JolieBox name will soon be retired entirely, but Birchbox has yet to confirm this change. Update: Birchbox says “there are immediate plans for co-branding JolieBox as a Birchbox company. We are merging and our goal is to create one unified brand.”
Birchbox recently expanded its subscription service to men in April of this year after operating for women since 2010.
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TNW caught up with Beauchamp at the F.ounders conference to talk about where her company is heading.
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