Former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed sells his flash sales site to MySale

Mohamed Al Fayed has sold his luxury flash sales website Cocosa for an undisclosed sum to MySale, an Australian rival backed by Philip Green that is looking to expand in the UK. 

 

The former Harrods boss bought Cocosa in 2011 after selling his world-famous store to Qatar Holdings the previous year, with the view of building a new online fashion empire. 

 

Previously owned by Bauer Media, the three year-old company was sold to Cocosa Lifestyle – a company set up by the Al Fayed Family Trusts.

 

However, the online designer discount store was wound down in October last year. At the time the company said that the costs of continuing to build the brand into a market leader were too high.

 

MySale, which is preparing to launch a UK website next month, said the Cocosa deal provided the group with a strong brand and a database of more than 800,000 customers. 

 

The group’s founder and chairman Jamie Jackson said:  “The acquisition of Cocosa.com gives us a fabulous foundation to build on as we finalise our plans for our UK launch.”

 

Mysale holds up to 60 flash sales a day where shoppers can buy clothing and homeware brands at a discount for a short period of time. It has over 10.5m members in six countries and turned over £102m last year.  

 

Earlier this month, it announced that Sir Philip Green had bought a 25 per cent stake in the business and that it was also exploring plans to float on the London Stock Exchange within coming months.  MySale has also opened a distribution centre in Corby employing 100 people and is searching for new UK headquarters.