MIAMI, Nov. 4, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Latin American cross-border shopping mall, iguama, today announced its strategic alliance with ChannelAdvisor (NYSE: ECOM), which will drive sales from U.S. retailers to iguama customers in Latin America. Today, many U.S. brands do not exist in Latin America or are too expensive or do not sell the latest fashions in Latino shopping centers. Through its integration with the ChannelAdvisor platform, iguama, one of the largest online membership clubs in Latin America, will connect shoppers to popular U.S. stores currently not available in their home countries, including Hats.com, eTailz.com,TechRabbit.com and StreetModa.com, among others.
Diego Fernandez, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of iguama, said the relationship with ChannelAdvisor opens up a new marketplace for U.S. retailers to interact with the second-fastest growing e-commerce market in the world, with little effort. “Latin Americans watch U.S. television shows and are familiar with U.S. brands, but most products are unavailable in regional shopping malls. By integrating with ChannelAdvisor, iguama can now offer U.S. retailers the opportunity to sell their products to Latinos, and let iguama handle the complexities of cross-border transactions including local customer service.” said Fernandez.
With club membership in iguama, Latinos get access to U.S. retailers that cannot be found in their home country, pay reduced shipping and tax costs, and remove any additional fees that would typically be the responsibility of the purchaser. Membership also guarantees product prices will be the same as they would be in the U.S., giving Latinos great value and eliminating additional management for retailers.
Bruce Matthews, Executive Vice President of Business Development for iguama, said the ChannelAdvisor strategic alliance is an ideal opportunity to bring popular brands to Latinos while giving U.S.retailers complete control of how their products are sold. “We’ve developed a simple three-step process that allows retailers to decide on their integration method with iguama, choose their product feed with ChannelAdvisor, and start selling internationally within days of set-up. Through each store’s portal, retailers can manage navigation, search, brand, promotions, selling performance and more,” said Matthews.
“Access ChannelAdvisor allows all manner of e-commerce channels to integrate with the ChannelAdvisor platform, so retailers can access more channels of demand like iguama,” said Mark Vandegrift, ChannelAdvisor director of business development. “We are excited to provide a seamless retail-to-customer experience on iguama so our customers can expand their online presence in Latin America. By equipping retailers with robust reporting, they can make real-time, performance-based decisions to help maximize their sales on the marketplace.”
Cross-border e-commerce is expected to grow from $30 billion to $83 billion by 2018, according to a 2014 report by CBEC, and international tourism shopping is expected to increase nearly 25% in just four years, from 122 billion to 152 billion in 2018 according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
“The relationship between iguama and ChannelAdvisor will revolutionize how Latinos shop and rapidly increase what products they have access to,” said Fernandez. “At the same time, the Latin market has money to spend, and U.S. companies now have the ability to sell to an entirely new customer base, while letting iguama handle the logistics of everyday business. It’s a winning formula for bothLatin America, and U.S. retailers.”
About iguama
Established in 2014, iguama is the first and only e-commerce cross-border shopping club that allows the rest of the world (starting inLatin America) to buy top quality brands from U.S. stores at affordable prices. The company core business model markets club memberships and does not profit on the products it sells or on international costs associated with each transaction, making it very simple for U.S. stores the opportunity to sell products internationally (starting in Latin America). All of the complexity in cross-border transactions is handled by iguama, which include: local marketing, customer service, total in country calculation of price, efficient logistics and payment acceptance. Based in Miami, iguama is backed by venture capital firm PeopleFund. Visit www.iguama.com for more information.
About PeopleFund
PeopleFund is a global pioneer in value added investments focused on technology, internet and media. They are uniquely positioned to add significant value to companies by leveraging their in-house management and technology expertise. PeopleFund’s investment approach allows them to partner and invest in early through growth venture investments, private equity and public companies. By partnering with management and entrepreneurs, PeopleFund has generated industry leading returns for investors. For more information please visit: www.peoplefund.com.
SOURCE iguama