LONDON — Cudoni, the U.K. resale site that shut down in April of this year, three months after an eBay-led fundraise, has been acquired by luxury resale platform Sign of the Times in a deal that uses certain assets from Cudoni that are still under wraps.
Cudoni went into administration in April citing the rising cost of living and economic crisis as the reason. In late January, the business had raised 7.5 million pounds in a funding round led by eBay’s venture arm.
Its new owner is Antonia Johnstone, owner and chief executive officer of Sign of the Times. The acquisition will allow her to increase her database by 35 percent.
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“Obviously, it is bittersweet because it’s really tough when a business goes out of business,” said Johnstone on the phone to WWD, who had heard about the news of Cudoni going into administration via her connections in the administration space.
“We reached out very quickly after we saw the announcement. We put forward a good offer, we felt that it was a really, really good synergy with what we’re doing,” she added, but kept the sum of the buy in close to her chest.
The acquisition was complete by the end of June, which Johnstone calls a quick process. It was partly self-funded from Sign of the Times’ profits last year, as well as partnering with an investor that will become public knowledge in September.
In trading size, Cudoni was bigger than Sign of the Times, which means the latter will increase the size of the business — a number that’s grown by 230 percent in the last three years.
“For us, the particular interest was the fact that they were London-based and they had a very similar client base to us,” said Johnstone.
The core clients of the business are 30- to 50-year-old women with an influx of a younger generation taking interest, with some discovering Sign of the Times through TikTok.
The business also operates out of a store in London’s Chelsea and their service is more personalized. Johnstone said each item that’s listed has been touched by a member of the company for authentication and resale.
Sign of the Times’ core focus is resale rather than venturing into renting other areas of circularity.
Johnstone wants to replicate the retail experience for resale via model photography on its website, same-day delivery in London and customer service relationships such as WhatsApp interactions.
Sign of the Times does daily drops online. There are 5,000 items in total on the website and 2,000 in store.
As part of the acquisition, Sign of the Times has taken over Cudoni’s website, which now redirects visitors to the Sign of the Times site.
“We have no limit to how many items we can take because we don’t need the cash to buy it as we’re mainly consignment,” she added.
Sign of the Times is already in talks with a few retailers about potentially collaborating on a pop-up, but there are no plans in place for expanding its retail space.
Cudoni was founded by James Harford-Tyrer as a platform selling pre-owned products. In 2017, Harford-Tyrer pivoted and relaunched the platform with a focus on pre-owned luxury fashion.
Sellers could call to arrange a pickup in London, and Cudoni would value, post and sell the merchandise for a fee. Cudoni was an aggressive marketeer, pushing out products by Chanel, Tiffany & Co., Alexander McQueen, and a host of high-end labels.
The company encouraged sellers to reinvest their earnings on the site, and offered rewards and discounts to those who embraced its circular proposition.