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Amazon’s newest competitor has youthful edge

6/20/2019
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Verishop is pursuing millennial and Gen Z shoppers with influencers and social responsibility.

Initially announced in February, e-commerce site Verishop is now live.

According to an introductory statement on the site, “Verishop was founded with the mission to bring joy back to online shopping by building a tech-driven platform that both brands and customers deserve.”

Verishop’s standard offerings include free two-day shipping, free returns, and 24/7 online customer service. The company says it controls “the entire purchasing process from the technology to creative and logistics.”

At launch, Verishop provides what it calls handpicked, “verified and curated” brands in the women’s and men’s apparel and accessories, home, and beauty categories. The initial collection of more than 150 brands includes Levi’s, Diane von Furstenberg, Hudson Jeans, and Unreal Fur. To avoid counterfeiting and unscrupulous third-party sellers, Verishop initially purchases all the goods it sells directly from the brands.

One feature of Verishop that is friendly to young consumers is an Instagram-type section called Tastemakers. Millennial and Gen Z influencers such as lifestyle bloggers, designers, and entertainers offer curated product selections with multiple images. The Responsible Shop section features an assortment of goods that are not tested on animals or have been sourced using organic and fair trade materials.

Verishop also offers a dedicated section of “clean beauty” products which are non-toxic and devoid of a wide variety of ingredients including mineral oils as well as mercury compounds.

The founding team of Verishop includes CEO Imran Khan, former chief strategy officer of Snapchat parent Snap, as well as chief strategy officer Cate Khan, whose eight-year tenure at Amazon included a stint as senior VP of retail for its now-shuttered Quidsi subsidiary. The Khans are husband and wife.

Based in Los Angeles, Verishop says its funding includes has $17.5 million from investors led by Lightspeed Ventures.
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