User:CamillaJMarsh/ draft article on RunwaySale

RunwaySale is a web-based company that sells affordable designer brands by hosting flash events. It is South Africa's largest members-only online shopping club.

History
The company was founded in January 2012 by Elmien Smit (formerly an employee at Woolworths (South Africa) and Karl Hammerschmidt. The website was launched on 15 May 2012. It's head office is located in Cape Town, South Africa. The first angel investor to invest in the company was Michael Leeman who has also invested in:


 * ChessCube ChessCube
 * Cognician Cognician
 * Personera Personera

Business
RunwaySale hosts flash events (aka event sales) for top international brands for a limited time only. Items that are sold include mens', ladies' and children's fashion apparel, shoes and accessories. Homeware and cosmetics are also becoming available. A typical sale lasts between 36-48 hours. When a sale commences, members are notified via e-mail, Facebook and Twitter. Once an order has been placed and paid for, the package will arrive, on average, between 7-21 working days later. Deliveries are made throughout South Africa.

Sales can feature merchandise from single brands or small groups of brands at a time and change regularly. RunwaySale manages to offer designer brands at affordable prices by purchasing vendor inventory at a large discount and adding on top a margin in order to make a profit. Through RunwaySale, brands can sell end of season merchandise at discounted prices.