Brayola: Israeli Start Up Bra Online Retailer Collapsed
Dr. Avner Barnea
Intelligence strategist and leader, scholar and lecturer on intelligence and national security and intelligence in business
Brayola Fitting Technologies Inc., an online lingerie retailer has filed for a stay of proceeding with the Tel Aviv district court over a debt of NIS 25.8 million ($7.43 million). Brayola uses a smart algorithm and an ever growing database to suggest personalized bra recommendations to shoppers. It offers bras by over a hundred brands available for purchase on its website. The company says it has a return rate of less than 10 percent, compared to the 30 percent return rate typical to traditional lingerie companies.
Brayola’s database contains the measurements and related information of 2.5 million women, the company said. The company offers bras by over 100 brands on its website. Customers can provide Bryola with details about the bras they own and receive recommendations for other styles with a similar fit. Founded in 2012, Brayola has raised $12.5 million to date..
Brayola cited a decline in business activity and profitability due to growing competition, and asked for a 45-day grace period during which it will attempt to find an investor to buy the company or some of its assets and activity. Court documents show that the company saw $21 million in revenues in 2018, and demonstrated similar sales in the first half of 2019.
Again and again, we are coming across with promising Israeli start -ups that acquired advantage in technology and products but reached to its end as a result of problematic management and the lack of capabilities to adjust to the growing competition in its specific niche. In this case, while leading retailers who cut their prices and also proposed free shipping found Brayola unable to compete. It looks also that initially, its business model was not good enough and there was a stream of wishful thinking regarding the potential sales and the real ability to compete, that did not fulfill.
Dr. Avner Barnea (Ph.D.), is a scholar and a lecturer on Competition, Entrepreneurship and Business Strategy in various MBA academic programs in Israel among them the Netanya Academic College, the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo, and the MA program of the Department of Information Science, Bar Ilan University.
Senior Partner Ramko Rolland Ass. Academic Lecturer, Innovator & Inventor, turning dreams into profitable businesses
5 年IMHO the company chooses a too narrow women lingerie product, within a mindset of "days gone by" where small tailoring shops address the needs of fitting lingeries. From my recollection there where such stores in NYC Upper East Side, who did have a narrow circle of clients who wished a perfect match to their body for a higher price. This type of service did not spread within the major retail store for the simple reason that woman's lingeries like Victoria Secret managed to command the trends in the "sexy" lingeries by smart seducing advertising and by thus deciding for their clients what best fits and is also "sexy".