BirthdayExpress.com is an American online retailer based in New Berlin, Wisconsin, which sells party and decoration equipment exclusively for, but not limited to, children's birthdays.
BirthdayExpress.com also runs a party shop at Evite's social web planning service, which, together with the parent company BirthdayExpress.com, BuySeasons, Inc., is owned by Liberty Interactive Corporation. BuySeasons, Inc. also responsible for family related retail sites including BuyCostumes.com, CostumeExpress.com, CelebrateExpress.com, and 1stWishes.com.
Video BirthdayExpress.com
Histori
1990s
Birthday Express was founded in Kirkland, Washington by Animation Engineering team Mike Jewell and his wife, Jan Jewell, in June 1994. The couple, inspired by the birth of their third child, funded the start-up with $ 1.5 million of their personal savings. Initially, the company operated a purely postal mail order business model before launching its first website in 1996. BirthdayExpress.com was responsible for one-third of the company's orders in 1999.
After a five-year period that saw a nearly fivefold increase in the number of orders (from 44,000 in 1995 to 200,000 in 1998), Birthday Express received over $ 13 million in new investment capital from Arch Venture Partners, Advanced Technology Ventures and Sigma Partners in 1999. Later that year, CelebrateExpress.com was created for the purpose of selling adult- and holiday-themed party products, and Birthday Express expanded its distribution capacity with a 32,000 square foot warehouse rental in Greensboro, North Carolina.
2000s
Birthday Express officially changed its name to CelebrateExpress.com in early 2000, and also announced preparations for an initial public offering on NASDAQ for the purpose of raising $ 40 million. This preparation was abandoned in August of that year, following the poor performance of public competitors. CelebrateExpress.com chose to raise funds from other sources, collecting $ 14 million in August 2001.
CelebrateExpress.com continues to expand its brand family by purchasing Storybook Heirlooms in 2001 from Storybook, Inc., a clothing retailer devoted to pre-teen adolescents, and by creating Costume Express in 2003. Currently, BirthdayExpress.com is sending 12 million catalog every year and receive 1 million visits every month.
CelebrateExpress.com mereempempakan [initial public offering | IPO] in 2004, this time with success. Priced at $ 15.50 per share on October 20, 2004, CelebrateExpress.com made its debut in the Nasdaq National Market with the ticker symbol BDAY. 3.2 million shares were offered, with a total offer of $ 49.6 million. Stock sales generated more than $ 50 million for the company, which also saw sales increase by 43% year on year.
Kevin Green was hired as CEO of CelebrateExpress.com in 2006.
In 2008, Liberty Media purchased CelebrateExpress.com for the purpose of merging it with its own e-commerce subsidiary, BuySeasons, Inc.
2010s
BirthdayExpress.com, as part of Liberty Media, becomes a managed brand on the same footing as Celebrate Express and Costume Express, as well as BuySeasons' BuyCostumes.com. In December 2010, Dan Haight replaced Jalem Getz as CEO and President of BuySeasons. He will then be replaced, in turn, by Dev Mukherjee, former SVP and President of Sears Holdings' Home Appliances for shop and online, by 2013.
Maps BirthdayExpress.com
Facilities
BirthdayExpress.com operates from a corporate headquarters of 472,000 sq ft in New Berlin, Wisconsin. The company also operates a satellite facility in Bothell, Washington that employs a creative and product development team. The New Berlin campus became the center of the company's professional office and call center, as well as warehouses and distribution/manufacturing centers.
1stWishes.com
1stWishes.com is a separate retail brand owned by BuySeasons which was first created in 2006 to serve exclusively for the first anniversary. The website was relaunched in 2013 as "1stWishes.com by Birthday Express."
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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