OSP Buys & Relaunches Beloved Commerce Brand Dot & Bo

NEW YORK, Feb. 2, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- OSP, the fast commerce direct response marketplace company best known for launching the online marketplace OpenSky, announced today that it has acquired and relaunched Dot & Bo, a beloved online brand of curated home décor and furniture.

"Bringing Dot & Bo into our portfolio is a strategic step in our goal of modernizing global trade for SMEs," said John Caplan, Founder & CEO, OSP.

"When we re-engineered our first marketplace, OpenSky.com, from celebrity social retailer to a direct response marketplace, we built technology to power fast commerce: direct response and automated merchandising," Michael Schnapf, OSP President & CTO, added. "SME sellers 'bid up' take rates to increase the velocity of sales of their goods, an approach which functions similarly to an AdWords/AdSense campaign for retail e-commerce."

Dot & Bo offers a curated and upscale assortment of SME home furnishings, décor, furniture, and an assortment of specialty bedding, bath, kitchen, and outdoor products. OSP has resurrected its distinct branding and vast and varied product selection, and, most importantly, built a distribution channel to help SME merchants specializing in furniture and décor grow their businesses.

"I'm happy to see that Dot & Bo is back and being operated by OSP," Isaac Friedman, Founder & CEO, CEETS said. "We design great products, and the OSP platform makes it easier than ever for me to reach new customers and grow my sales."

Last year OSP acquired SME online store builder and marketplace Storenvy.com and grew its revenue over 3 times in just 9 months.

Chris Keane, VP of Product, OSP, said, "By making Storenvy profitable we're now in a position where we can invest more into it. We will do the same with Dot & Bo."

OSP's expertise and commitment to SMEs is consistent with the economic trends in the United States. U.S. Census data indicates SMEs already account for more than 20% of overall U.S. retail commerce, and e-commerce SMEs are projected to soon exceed $100bn in annual U.S. GMV. Today, OSP works with over 100,000 SMEs. The company estimates that 1 million people in the U.S. work for SMEs that use the OSP platform to sell.

One SME seller, Ben Tabai, operates 3 stores on the OpenSky.com marketplace. After joining the platform in mid-2014, his business has grown from 1 employee to 8 full-time staffers, with first-month sales of $14,000 now greater than $1,000,000 per month. "OpenSky gave me something I'm able to do every day that I'm passionate about," Tabai said. "OSP gave me a career. Based on our success, my fiancé was able to quit her job as an engineer at DirecTV and commit to this full-time."

In the last year, OSP itself  has grown to over 140 people, adding several key members to the leadership team: Tar-Kisha Bryant (People, joining from Rent The Runway), Ellen Duffie-Fritz (VP Marketing, joining from QVC) and Dana Mirabella (SME Accounts, joining from LinkedIn). 

About OSP
Backed by Alibaba Group and headquartered in NYC, OSP Holdings is a network of businesses that empower modern global trade for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). We provide the fundamental technology infrastructure and marketing reach to help SMEs leverage the power of the Internet to grow their businesses. Learn more at sourcesellship.com.

Contact:
Andrew Pavoni, GM Marketplaces
[email protected]

SOURCE OpenSky