Fashion marketplace Secret Sales has acquired H&M‘s former outlet platform Afound, aiming to strengthen its European market position with an expansion into Scandinavia.
Separate identity remains
H&M launched Afound in 2018 as a multi-brand marketplace for fashion bargains, with physical shops in Sweden and the Netherlands in addition to a webshop. However, it pulled the plug last summer, due to a lack of interest from consumers and from brands, which are increasingly selling out through their own channels.
Afound will now be integrated on the Secret Sales platform, but would retain its own brand identity. Customers will have access to a range of 3,800 fashion brands. With this acquisition, Secret Sales expands its European footprint: the marketplace now operates in ten European countries: (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom). In the past twelve months, Secret Sales counted sixteen million customer accounts and more than 150 million visitors.
