Best Secret GmbH
The BESTSECRET, a subsidiary of Schustermann & Borenstein GmbH, is an e-commerce company for designer merchandise based in Dornach, Germany. Best Secret functions as a closed shopping community.
History
The beginning of Schustermann & Borenstein date back to 1924. The traditional family-run business is run by the third generation. BESTSECRET was founded as a subsidiary of Schustermann & Borenstein in 2007 to create an online presence.Business Model
BESTSECRET's works as a closed shopping community. This means that the offers are only available to registered members and these members have access to a selection of permanently reduced designer merchandise. In order to maintain this pricing policy and yet protect the exclusivity of the brands, access to the online store is limited to 250,000 members. A prospective user must be recommended by an existing member to gain access. However, the COO, Marian Schikora, will review any new recommendation to ensure that the total number of members is kept low.Internationalization
The company is active in Germany, Greece, Austria, Switzerland, France, Sweden, Latvia, Netherlands, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Ireland, Belgium, Bulgaria and Romania. In addition, Best Secret GmbH acquired the Swiss online fashion retailer FashionFriends on April 1, 2016.Investors
In 2012, Schustermann & Borenstein sold two-thirds of its shares to Axa Private Equity Group, which included shares in BESTSECRET. The remaining shares remained family-owned by Daniel Schustermann, Emil Schustermann, Benno Borenstein and Daniel Borenstein, who continue to run the operating business.In 2016, Ardian sold the Schustermann & Borenstein and BestSecret company shares to Permira. The enterprise value lay approximately between 700 and 750 million euro.
In 2020, Moritz Hahn joined BESTSECRET as a Co-CEO of the company.