eBags.com

eBags is an online retailer of handbags, luggage, backpacks, laptop bags, and travel accessories that was founded in Greenwood Village, Colorado near Denver. The pure-play e-retailer was recognized by traditional retailers as a survivor of the dot-com crash in addition to the September 11 terrorist attacks which dramatically slowed travel product sales in 2001.[1]

eBags
TypePublic Company
SMSEY (OTC)
IndustryRetail
Founded1998
HeadquartersGreenwood Village, Colorado, United States
Key people
Dan Hogan, President & CEO
ProductsHandbags, luggage, backpacks, laptop bags, duffel bags
Number of employees
100+
ParentSamsonite
Websitewww.ebags.com

Before being acquired for $105 million by Samsonite in 2017,[2] the main website, eBags.com, carried bags and accessories from more than 650 brands. eBags also operated the eBags Corporate Sales site and offered its own private label products under the name The eBags Brand.[3]

During 2020, eBags stopped selling brands not owned by Samsonite. As of September 2020, eBags.com retailed products from 5 brands: eBags private label brand, Samsonite, American Tourister, Hartmann, and High Sierra.[4]

Awards

eBags won "Website of the Year" from The Multichannel Merchant (MCM) and I.Merchant Awards competition, sponsored by Catalog Age, in 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2008.[5] In 2001, Multichannel Merchant wrote, "in the wake of scores of highly publicized flameouts ... (I.Merchant) ... recognizes those online marketers that are helping to establish — and surpass — the standards of the still-fledgling medium."[6][7] In 2004, winners were selected from more than 200 entries.[8]

eBags won the BizRate Platinum Circle of Excellence award twice by 2007. In 2007, 73 of 98,657 stores measure by BizRate were given the Platinum distinction.[9]

In 2007, when companies had an average Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 13, eBags NPS was 58.[9]

History

Jon Nordmark, Peter Cobb, Frank Steed, Andy Youngs, and Eliot Cobb founded eBags in the late spring of 1998.[10]

The website eBags.com launched on March 1, 1999 with seven brands including Samsonite, JanSport, and Skyway luggage. The focus was primarily on luggage due to the backgrounds of the founders, four of which worked previously at Samsonite.[11][12]

After rapid growth in 1999, eBags' compound annual growth rate was 33% between 2000 and December 2007[9] even as economic obstacles occurred during the "dot com bomb" of 2000, the recession of 2001, and the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

One reason eBags survived the dot bomb period was because the company drop-shipped more than 80% of products direct from manufacturers to consumers starting in 1999.[9] Drop shipping led to 27 inventory turns per year by 2003 and provided a negative cash conversion cycle as Dot-coms: Not so bad after all by Benchmark Capital's Bill Gurley described on ZDNet.[13]

The retailer created more operational efficiencies by being an early Web 2.0 and participatory commerce innovator. In March 1999, eBags began asking customers to rate products and write product reviews. This was a relatively new concept in e-commerce in 1999.[14] By 2008, 1.5 million reviews of travel products were written by eBags' customers.[15]

As eBags matured, it launched a corporate sales division, retail websites globally for partners (Tumi and Case Logic), a footwear-handbag website (6PM.com) and eBags' Europe.

Global Technology Services (GTS) ... 2002

In 2002, Tumi, the luxury luggage manufacturer, asked eBags to operate Tumi.com. In response, eBags formed Global Technology Services (GTS). operated Tumi.com starting in 2002, followed by Tumi UK in October 2005, Tumi Germany in July 2006, and Tumi Japan in August 2006. eBags started operating retail sites for Case Logic in the United States and the U.K. in July 2005.

6PM.com ... 2004

During this same timeframe, eBags also launched 6PM.com. Purchased as Shoedini.com in March 2004 and renamed in November 2005, 6PM.com combined eBags' knowledge of bags with the complementary business of shoes. 6PM's main feature was matching bags with shoes. 6PM was sold in October 2007 to Zappos.

eBags Europe ... 2004

In October 2004, eBags launched eBags.co.uk with the intent of expanding further into Europe at a later time. The eBags UK offices were located in Cambridge, England. That year marked eBags' expansion of its brand representation to more than 600 total in the United States and Europe. eBags.co.uk was later closed in December 2008 and the company focus returned to growing the main site, eBags.com.[16]

eBags ... 2016

Before being acquired by Samsonite, eBags.com carried 67,000 bags and travel accessories from 600 brands. As of February 2016, eBags sold over 25 million bags and had over 3.2 million reviews on the website.[17]

Samsonite Acquired eBags ... 2017

In April 2017 Samsonite agreed to acquire eBags for $105 million in cash. eBags generated $158.5 million in sales in 2016, up 23.5% from $128.3 million in 2015. [18][19]

eBags headquarters in Greenwood Village, Colorado was closed in September 2020 and moved to Massachusetts.

References
  1. "eBags.com: How a pure-play survived the dot com bust". Digital Commerce 360. February 14, 2002. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  2. "Samsonite picks up eBags for $105m". Financial Times. April 6, 2017. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  3. "eBags invents amazing lightweight packing solution". PR Newswire. February 17, 2016. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  4. "eBags.com website". eBags. September 25, 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  5. "eBags.com Wins 2008 Website of the Year". eBags. March 24, 2012. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  6. "The 2ND ANNUAL I.Merchant Awards". PRNewswire. September 1, 2001. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  7. "eBags.com Wins 'Website of the Year' at Multichannel Merchant Awards". SGB Media. May 17, 2006. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  8. "Annual Catalog Awards Finalists". Multichannel Merchant. April 1, 2004. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  9. Jon Nordmark. "eBags May 2008". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. "Ebags agrees to sell itself to Samsonite". PressReader. April 8, 2017. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
  11. "Five Things You Didn't Know About eBags". Denver Post. March 10, 2015. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  12. "Ebags agrees to sell itself to Samsonite". PressReader. April 8, 2017. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
  13. Gurley, J. William. "Dot-coms: Not so bad after all". ZDNet. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  14. Niesche, Christopher (2013-04-07). "Entrepreneur's e-commerce success in the bag". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  15. Jon Nordmark. "eBags May 2008". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  16. Silverman, Scott (February 23, 2009). "Q&A With eBags' Peter Cobb on Why They Shut Down Their UK Site". shop.org. Archived from the original on 2009-06-11. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  17. "eBags Celebrates 25 Million Bags Sold". PRNewswire. February 4, 2016. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  18. "Black Samsonite buys eBags for $105 million". digitalcommerce360. April 7, 2017. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  19. "Black Samsonite Acquires eBags". Seeking Alpha. April 7, 2017. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
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