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Start-ups as Employers. HHL Graduates Clothe Women. Kisura curated shopping platform has been successful in two financing rounds already
Many women know the situation: their closets are full but, nonetheless, they have nothing to wear. This is exactly what Tanja Bogumil, 28, and Linh Nguyen, 27, want to change with their new online retailer Kisura. The two graduates of HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management say, "We have made it our mission to digitalize traditional shopping. Experienced stylists advise the customer on fashion and style-related matters in an individual and personal manner. As a result, she will receive a tailored fashion choice presented in a virtual showroom in her online customer account. The customer can then select which items she would like to have delivered to her home without obligation. She can then decide on her own or with the assistance of the counselors which items she would like to keep. The rest will be returned to Kisura free of charge." According to the HHL graduates, complete makeovers are in high demand in addition to counseling without radical changes of appearance.
Kisura GmbH was founded by Tanja Bogumil and Linh Nguyen in Berlin in November 2012 and has offered its personalized shopping service to women nationwide since 2013. The team has grown to 14 employees and counting.
Curated shopping puts the customer in the spotlight, not the product
The company name Kisura is derived from Swahili and means "lovely-looking woman". The business idea is based on the concept of curated shopping: the focus is not on the product as it used to be in e-commerce, but with the customer being the center of attention. Bogumil explains, "We do not offer products suiting our customers' requirements until we have sufficient information on the customer – size, body shape, fashion preferences and what they are looking for."
The Kisura business model is based on the classic retail model. The two company founders work with manufacturers and retailers through which they purchase the products at a discount. The customers pay the regular retail price and Kisura finances itself through this margin. The style counseling service, as it is currently offered, is free of charge.
The typical Kisura customer is between the ages of 30 and 50, internet savvy and has a strong sense of fashion. The average shopping cart is about EUR 400 for four items.
On course for growth with a clear business concept
Bogumil, who, among other things, founded a personalized shopping portal for menswear after completing her Master in Management Program (M.Sc.) at HHL, is looking optimistically into the future: "We have enjoyed very positive development. We were able to serve and satisfy over 1,500 customers in the first three months of operations." Bogumil is proud of having completed two successful financing rounds with her company: "On one side, we have found two experienced entrepreneurs from the technology and media scene in investors Gary Lin and Ralph Suda. On the other, we received funds from the ProFIT program supporting research, innovation and technology by Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB). We want to establish ourselves as a leading online shopping community and the largest provider of curated shopping on the European market, which is why we have set the course for growth. First, we want to further develop the shopping platform, which is partially financed through funds from the ProFIT program. Improved technology allows for tailored recommendations in real time in connection with the special experience of personalized shopping. Our customers benefit from significantly shorter waiting, processing and delivery times while the level of service is increasing. We currently operate on the German market but we plan to apply our business model in other European countries as well in the near future."
"HHL prepared us well for starting our own business"
Looking back at their time at HHL as a hotbed for entrepreneurs, Bogumil and Nguyen say, "The training at HHL with just the right mix of theory and practice has prepared us well for starting our business. We have found the classes from the Strategy module, in which we dealt with basic questions of founding and building a company, to be particularly helpful up to the present. We regularly face problems in everyday life for which there are no immediate solutions. The only thing that helps is often just thinking outside the box and, as they say, jumping in at the deep end. HHL prepared us very well for that with the help of case studies, field work and terms abroad. The excellent contact to the start-up scene and the open exchange between HHL entrepreneurs added to that as well."
HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management as a hotbed for entrepreneurs
With over 130 start-ups by HHL alumni over the past fifteen years, Germany's top address for young managers has also developed into an incubator for company creation. Well-known examples are Gollmann Kommissionierungssysteme, SunCoal Industries – the winner of the Founder's Prize awarded by WirtschaftsWoche magazine or Leipzig-based companies Spreadshirt and billigflieger.de. The founders' entrepreneurial commitment has created more than 2,500 jobs already, over 1,100 of which are located in the Leipzig region alone. HHL was voted among the top 20 start-up business schools in Germany in the second round of the "EXIST Gründungskultur – Die Gründerhochschule" start-up competition by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology last year. Just as in 2011, HHL managed to score the top position internationally for its entrepreneurship training in the Master in Management Ranking by the Financial Times in 2012. http://www.hhl.de/gruenderschmiede
http://www.hhl.de/gruenderschmiede
http://www.kisura.de
http://www.hhl.de
Tanja Bogumil, 28 (right), and Linh Nguyen, 27 (left), have founded Kisura GmbH in November 2012. Th ...
Screenshot of the virtual showroom on Kisura.de
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Tanja Bogumil, 28 (right), and Linh Nguyen, 27 (left), have founded Kisura GmbH in November 2012. Th ...
Screenshot of the virtual showroom on Kisura.de
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