Entrepreneurship: Olivier Dupuy (2001) - Creation of a virtual shopping mall

I/ Identity
Olivier Dupuy
EDHEC Grande Ecole, Lille, Class of 2001
II/ Business start-up project: Creation of a virtual shopping mall
. Online sales will have tripled between 2008 and 2011 according to Forester Research, particularly in the consumer goods sector. This growth has been confirmed in most of the euro zone countries. There are already a number of actors present, especially large retailers and brand names, but also private sales websites whose success comes down to a simple equation: brand names + supply below demand + low prices with ‘clearance sale’ offers + large qualified contacts database.
The sector expects to see considerable concentration in the next 2 years. The idea of the project is therefore to create a virtual shopping mall bringing together several French brands so as to:
-    share traffic development investments
-    increase the number of sales opportunities through cross-selling
-    facilitate development and implementation on foreign markets
-    make its contact databases cost-effective
-    considerably increase its turnover and continue to control the retail sector
The structure and platform will be operational from the end of 2010.

. Size of team (including number of Edhec alumni)
5 staff planned for September 2010, including 1 Edhec.
. Venture capital
800 k€
. Originality of the project
Strong integration of services which are still under-developed on the French markets, and good exploitation of the Internet community.
. Growth prospects
Turnover 10 times greater in next 4 years

III/ What do you expect from the Edhec community?
Edhec people, come and retail your brands with us!

Contact : www.od-conseil.com