brands4friends.de has continued its unbroken success story by ending 2009 with record growth. In its second complete business year alone, the company tripled its annual sales from roughly 25 million euros to roughly 80 million euros, thereby maintaining its top sales ranking among German online shopping clubs.

 
With its now more than 400 brand partners, brands4friends.de was able to execute over 1,000 sales promotions, thereby realizing an enormous sales hike. Increased brand awareness and the associated growth in both new and regular customers are some of the key factors behind the company’s stellar year. In fact, brands4friends.de delivered over one million parcels in 2009. 

   
 “More than a few observers thought we must be crazy, because of our entirely visionary objectives - but that pressure helped us to succeed,” says Christian Heitmeyer, founder and CEO of brands4friends.de. “By working together as a team, we’ve managed to be the only one in Germany to achieve a 300-percent sales increase. It shows you that to be successful, you have to be a little bit crazy. So, we’ll take it as a compliment.”

With a plan already in place to increase sales considerably in 2010, brands4friends.de has further sustainable growth in store. It is therefore currently seeking roughly 100 additional employees, particularly for its purchasing and production departments. 

 

brands4friends.de is Germany’s largest online shopping club, with currently more than 2.5 million registered club members, who are on average 32 years old. Two years after launching, brands4friends.de is one of the fastest growing e-commerce communities worldwide with up to 10,000 new members daily. About 50 percent of new members are gained through viral recommendation methods. brands4friends.de sells high-quality goods from renowned fashion and lifestyle brands exclusively to its members at significantly reduced prices.  brands4friends.de offers on a daily basis limited special offers for high-quality products from more than 400 brands, representing both overstocks from current collections as well as "off season" goods and special collections. brands4friends.de went online in September 2007 and currently employs 200 people at their headquarters in the center of Berlin. brands4friends.de went online in September 2007 and currently employs 200 people at its headquarters in the center of Berlin.
The company was founded by Managing Directors Christian Heitmeyer (CEO) and Constantin Bisanz, as well as by Nicolas Speeck and Mario Zimmermann. Partech International, Mangrove Capital Partners, Holtzbrinck Ventures rank among their investors. The business, operated by Private Sales GmbH, was awarded the Vision Award in conjunction with the “Visions: People. Media. Marketing.” Congress and the Innovation Prize "Online Shop of the Year 2008" by the jury of the Mailorder Company Congress. In addition, brands4friends.de was named “INTERNET WORLD” business idea 2008”. The founders of brands4friends.de were awarded the German Entrepreneur Prize in November, offered by the Harvard Business School Association of Germany e.V. Last year, brands4friends.de was dubbed “Best in Test” by German computer magazine ComputerBild (rating: good; issue 10/2009) and was the only online shopping club to receive the fashion and lifestyle Trusted Shops seal. In autumn 2009, the brands4friends.de team became a finalist in the Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of 2009” contest. Most recently, brands4friends.de was named the “Best Website of the Year” in the online shopping category by Metrix Lab.