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| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Traded as | OTC: SMSEY |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1998; 26 years ago (1998) |
| Headquarters | Greenwood Village, Colorado, United States |
| Key people | Dan Hogan (president & CEO) |
| Products | Handbags, luggage, backpacks, laptop bags, duffel bags |
| Number of employees | 100+ |
| Parent | Samsonite |
| Website | www |
eBags was an online retailer of handbags, luggage, backpacks, laptop bags, and travel accessories that was founded in Greenwood Village, Colorado near Denver.
Before being acquired by Samsonite in 2017, the main website, eBags.com, carried bags and accessories from hundreds of brands. eBags also operated the eBags Corporate Sales site and offered its own private label products under the name The eBags Brand.
During 2020, eBags stopped selling brands not owned by Samsonite. As of September 2020, eBags.com retailed products from 5 brands: eBags private label brand, Samsonite, American Tourister, Hartmann, and High Sierra.
History
Jon Nordmark, Peter Cobb, Frank Steed, Andy Youngs, and Eliot Cobb founded eBags in the late spring of 1998.
The website eBags.com launched on March 1, 1999 with seven brands including Samsonite, JanSport, and Skyway luggage. The focus was primarily on luggage due to the backgrounds of the founders, four of whom worked previously at Samsonite.
As eBags matured, it launched a corporate sales division, retail websites globally for partners (Tumi and Case Logic), a footwear-handbag website (6PM.com) and eBags' Europe.
2002: Global Technology Services (GTS)
In 2002, Tumi, the luxury luggage manufacturer, asked eBags to operate Tumi.com. In response, eBags formed Global Technology Services (GTS) and operated Tumi.com starting in 2002, followed by Tumi UK in October 2005, Tumi Germany in July 2006, and Tumi Japan in August 2006. eBags started operating retail sites for Case Logic in the United States and the U.K. in July 2005.
2004: 6PM.com
eBags purchased as Shoedini.com in March 2004 and renamed it to 6PM.com in November 2005. 6PM's main feature was matching bags with shoes. 6PM was sold in October 2007 to Zappos.
2004: eBags Europe
In October 2004, eBags launched eBags.co.uk with the intent of expanding further into Europe. The eBags UK offices were located in Cambridge, England. That year marked eBags' expansion of its brand representation to more than 600 total in the United States and Europe. eBags.co.uk was later closed in December 2008 and the company focus returned to growing the main site, eBags.com.
2016: eBags
Before being acquired by Samsonite, eBags.com carried 67,000 bags and travel accessories from 600 brands. As of February 2016, eBags sold over 25 million bags and had over 3.2 million reviews on the website.
2017: Samsonite acquired eBags
In April 2017, Samsonite agreed to acquire eBags. Sales figures at eBags showed an estimated 23.5% growth from 2015 to 2016.
eBags headquarters in Greenwood Village, Colorado was closed in September 2020 and moved to Massachusetts.
References
- "Samsonite picks up eBags for $105m". Financial Times. April 6, 2017. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
- "eBags invents amazing lightweight packing solution". PR Newswire. February 17, 2016. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
- "eBags.com website". eBags. September 25, 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
- "Ebags agrees to sell itself to Samsonite". PressReader. April 8, 2017. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
- "Five Things You Didn't Know About eBags". Denver Post. March 10, 2015. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
- "Ebags agrees to sell itself to Samsonite". PressReader. April 8, 2017. Retrieved 2020-09-21.
- Silverman, Scott (February 23, 2009). "Q&A With eBags' Peter Cobb on Why They Shut Down Their UK Site". shop.org. Archived from the original on 2009-06-11. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
- "eBags Celebrates 25 Million Bags Sold". PRNewswire. February 4, 2016. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
- "Black Samsonite buys eBags for $105 million". digitalcommerce360. April 7, 2017. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
- "Black Samsonite Acquires eBags". Seeking Alpha. April 7, 2017. Retrieved 2020-09-17.