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Posted by
10241 posts

I had no idea those were both companies with Colorado origins.

I agree, one fewer player in the industry doesn't sound good for competition.

Posted by
19276 posts

I recently bought a eTech 2.0 Weekender Jr. from eBags and so far like it very much. I looked at the selection of carry-ons on Samsonite's website and would not be interested in any of them - too heavy and too expensive. Samsonite doesn't seem to understand that carry-on doesn't mean wheels.

Hopefully, this move will broaden their line rather than eliminating competition.

Posted by
3293 posts

One is a product manufacturer and the other is an e-tailer. I don't see how that means elimination of competition. More like vertical integration. I suppose Samsonite could jack up the prices on other companies's brands to sell more of their own, but that seems like a bad business decision. Then they might lose business to other e-trailers like Amazon, etc.

Posted by
19276 posts

Or they could eliminate the current eBags line and replace it with Samsonite bags.

Posted by
16323 posts

Samsonite is buying up everyone--they also own Lipault, Tumi and Hartmann.

The Ebags Motherlode Weekender TLS is the best selling item at eBags. I doubt they will get rid of the line. If anything they are increasing it.

Oh No! Let's see what samsonite does to ebags. It will probably eliminate various products and restyle the highly profitable items. I wonder about customer service as well. I hate large companies taking over successful smaller companies. In my field of work, I have seen this a few times and usually do not like the end result. Often, personal customer service gets chopped in some way.

Posted by
16323 posts

After Samsonite took over other companies they let them run as separate companies. No intermingling of businesses.

Samsonite has said that eBags will remain where they are and the management will stay the same. Ebags is a successful company and it would be foolish to make changes.

Posted by
19276 posts

According to the article, the founder of eBags worked at Samsonite and tried to convince his bosses to start selling online. The CEO of Samsonite, in a statement that should be enshrined somewhere told him that "no one is ever going to buy a bag through an email". So now, as Samsonite sees brick and mortar sales plummeting, don't you think the are going to use the established "etailer" as an outlet for Samsonite, rather than try to build a Samsonite etail operation from the ground up?

Fortunately, Amazon has already started to sell some of the eBag lines, like eTech and TLS Mother Lode, so maybe all is not lost.

Posted by
16323 posts

Yes, Samsonite will use eBags to sell their line but not just their line. They will keep all products for sale. Why lose all that income? It would make no sense. eBags would then just be the online sales outlet for Samsonite. That's silly.

What you're missing is how eBags does business. They don't have any warehouses. Everything is dropped shipped from the manufacturer. If you order Tumi, it comes from Tumi's warehouse. If you order Osprey, it comes from Osprey's warehouse. That's the key to their business.......they don't have to keep a large inventory.

For their own branded merchandise, I believe they use independent drop shippers.

eBags is smart to sell their branded items through Amazon. It's another outlet. EVeryone has heard of Amazon but most have never heard of eBAgs.