| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1998 |
| Headquarters | headquarters: Greenwood Village, CO |
| Key people | Vince Jones, CEO Peter Cobb, VP GMM Mike Frazzini, VP |
| Products | Luggage, Backpacks, Computer Cases, Shoes, Handbags |
| Employees | 80+ |
| Website | www.eBags.com |
eBags.com, a division of eBags, Inc., is an American electronic commerce company founded in 1998. Based in Greenwood Village, Colorado. The primary purpose of eBags.com is to be an online retailer of handbags, backpacks, business cases, urban bags, luggage, and travel accessories. eBags.com represents more than 700 brands. In addition, eBags Inc. operates e-commerce websites for such partners as Tumi.com and CaseLogic.com.
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The website 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.
While eBags' growth rate (CAGR) was 42% from the summer of 1999 through summer 2005, three events caused eBags cash to dip below USD$700,000. Those events were:
In 1999, the company hired San Francisco-based Collaborate to create and test traditional TV, radio and print advertising using celebrities including Reggie Jackson, Gabrielle Reece and Francis Ford Coppola. But, after seeing little change in product demand from test markets, the traditional advertising efforts were tabled After experiencing very rapid growth, September 11, specifically, caused eBags' luggage sales to slow to 2% growth for the next six months. During the 18 months following 9/11, more than 500 competing brick & mortar luggage specialty stores—most importantly, those operated by Bentleys and El Portal—closed. Another 200 closed in Germany.
To recharge the growth, eBags diversified more into handbags and purses, business cases, sport bags and backpacks. This allowed the company to rely on more daily use brands like Kathy Van Zeeland, Tignanello, Perlina, Stone Mountain and Eastpak. From the beginning, eBags drop-shipped most products direct from manufacturers to consumers. This reduced the company's inventory risk, which could have been substantial as sales slowed after the dot-bomb. In addition, having a call center outsourced to the Philippines has lowered operating costs and prevented problems during sale drops.
Over the years, eBags expanded its brand representation to more than 600 total, in the United States and in Europe. Part of the most recent expansion has been the focus on "on-the-streets" or boutique handbag designers. Not having to follow Minimum advertised price (MAP) pricing for all vendors has also allowed eBags to be a strong price competitor in the market. eBags features about 300 handbag designers, from popular ones like Kate Spade, Cole Haan and Rafe to trendy boutique designers like Babee D, Maruca and Linea Pelle.
Five people founded eBags in the late spring of 1998. Four of them worked for Samsonite prior to starting eBags. Collectively, they—Jon Nordmark, Peter Cobb, Frank Steed and Andy Youngs—worked more than 50 years at Samsonite, which was headquartered in Denver from 1910 through 1997. Eliot Cobb worked as VP of Finance at a national music retailer, Wherehouse Music, headquartered in Los Angeles, CA.
For Samsonite, Jon Nordmark led development of luggage, duffel and backpack products while managing about 20 different distribution channels in North America. In 1997-8, he performed similar duties for Samsonite South America. Nordmark helped build hardside and softside products in Asia, Europe and the U.S.
During his six years at Samsonite, Peter Cobb led USA marketing for both Samsonite and American Tourister. This included marketing communications activities—often created in partnership with Chicago-based ad agency Leo Burnett—and new product development. Before that, Cobb developed golf bags for a Ben Hogan licensing company.
Frank Steed was president of both Samsonite and American Tourister, USA. He served as Chairman of eBags, Inc. until the summer of 2001.
The final founder to join eBags from Samsonite was Andy Youngs. At Samsonite he served in both marketing and sales capacities.
Nordmark and Peter Cobb continue to work for eBags. Correction - Nordmark resigned as CEO in the latter half of 2008, but remains a Director. In 2008, Nordmark became co-founder and CEO of Wambo[1], a Denver-based venture knowledgist company that helps startups find paths to revenues. Steed and Youngs left eBags during the downturn of the dot coms in the summer of 2001. Steed became president of a travel accessories company based in New York. Youngs joined Case Logic—a company that produces storage cases for PDAs, iPods and CDs—as their Vice President of Marketing.
eBags has had its fair share of talent, but here are some notable executives.
Mark De'Orio
Jon Nordmark
Peter Cobb
Eliot Cobb
Joe Devine
Mike Frazzini
The following websites are owned and operated by eBags, Inc.