Rumor: Amazon Invests in New B2C Site from Vancl
Sina Tech, 5/17/10
An industry source has said that Chen Nian, founder of Chinese B2C clothing site Vancl, is preparing to start a new venture - VJia.com - that will exist independently of Vancl and serve to sell clothing from other brands. The source says that the site could launch this week.
Chen Nian has reportedly been preparing to launch VJia.com for more than a year. The site will establish its own warehouses to keep stock from all of the brands it sells, to be shipped through a unified system. Vancl registered the domain name VJia.com in 2007, and is currently testing the site internally.
Vancl and Chen Nian have yet to comment on the rumor.
Editor's Note: According to Netease Tech, an employee at Vancl has confirmed that the company brought in USD 50 mln in strategic investment from Amazon to set up the new B2C clothing site. VJia.com will offer brands such as Nike, Adidas, Guess, and Izzue. The employee said that the investment was from Amazon's U.S. headquarters, not the Chinese subsidiary Joyo Amazon.
Keywords: VJia Chen Nian Vancl Internet investment B2C Amazon apparel e-commerce