The Creator of Olook Launches His Second Ecommerce in LATAM

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Contents
1 Why this new location?
American entrepreneur Peter Ostroske , founder of the Brazilian women's clothing  e-commerce site Olook , recently opened a website in Colombia aimed at SMEs, offering more than 8,000 stationery, furniture and technology equipment products.



Peter Ostroske. Photo: Colombia.inn/Leonardo Muñoz

This is Ofi.com.co , a portal that seeks to conquer the Internet market for “non-strategic” products new jersey email list that moves around US$ 15 billion in Colombia, Ostroske explained to Colombia.inn, an agency operated by Efe. These products range from hardware, software, stationery and toiletries, or office furniture, to accessories for company personnel , such as gloves or safety glasses.

“Our value proposition is that we offer the widest catalog, the most affordable products and personalized service .”
Ofi.com.co was launched with US$200,000 from angel investors from Colombia, the United States, Argentina and Brazil , and has now been selected by iNNpulsa, the Colombian government unit that promotes high-impact entrepreneurship, as a beneficiary of funds directed to early-stage companies.

Ostroske has apparently had contact with the Latin American community since her childhood in New Orleans. The final push to venture into the region came from research she conducted while studying at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania; she focused on the Brazilian e-commerce market and studied the verticals, then made the decision to take a leave of absence from school and launch  Olook in 2011. Today, the women's fashion retailer has a turnover of one million dollars a month.


Why this new location?
The entrepreneur chose Colombia  over perhaps more obvious – but more competitive – players such as Mexico, Chile and Argentina. The reasons include the scarcity of pure players in the B2B office supply sector, the slow offline-online migration of existing stores and the ease of starting a business in the country.

“In Colombia, the process has been quite continuous .  We opened the company in three days , and we have not had any administrative problems opening the business in Colombia.”
The entrepreneur started from the hypothesis that “ an SME struggles to gain space in the market and cannot spend time ” on purchasing office supplies, which is why he offers this fast and economical option.

The purchasing method is similar to that of other websites, delivery takes place within 48 hours in Bogotá and within 72 hours in the rest of the country , in addition to a customer service center that provides telephone service. In addition to the traditional payment methods on the market, Ofi.com.co offers the option of 30-day credit and price negotiation .

In less than a month of operations, this website has already closed sales for more than US$ 25,000 and has achieved a repurchase rate of 33%.  Ostroske hopes to generate revenue of two million dollars in the first year of operations of Ofi.com.co.