Vente-Privee Founder Thinks the UK Is Too Quiet and Too Expensive For Sample Sale Websites

It’s always exciting to read interviews from Vente-Privee founder Jacques-Antoine Granjon. Whether you agree with him or not, he doesn’t seem to pull any punches when offering his thoughts on his own sites, or anyone else’s (Granjon once called Groupon a Vente-Privee copycat).

In an interview with DirectorsOf, Granjon explains that he slashed the Vente-Privee UK team by 75% because the “tough island” requires a different plan than the one that’s been (incredibly) successful in France and continental Europe.

“In Spain, for example, if you get something you like you spread the news and tell your friends, but if UK people get a good deal they keep it for themselves,” he says.

And unlike Groupon, don’t look for Vente-Privee to achieve dominance in other markets by buying the most successful clone at whatever price it takes.

“Everyone who makes £20m sales thinks they’re worth £200m,” Granjon says. “If you spend too much money on an acquisition you are not sure to succeed, particularly in mature countries.”

None of which has dampened Granjon’s enthusiasm for the forthcoming Vente-Privee/American Express US collaboration, which may come as early as Thanksgiving of this year or as late as 2012.

It’s difficult to emphasize how much of an achievement it is that Vente-Privee has built a billion euro (even cooler than a billion dollars) business largely through dominance in France and other European countries, but we think Granjon may be running into the same problems US and UK companies run into when trying to enter France on the opposite side and slowing growth plans too soon.

One of the reasons Vente-Privee was buzzworthy in France is because sales are actually regulated by the government. Stores are permitted to run sales at scheduled times twice a year, and anything else is a “private sale,” or vente privee in French. And truly, they really are private – you’d have to be on a customer contact list at a store, pass my a window at just the right time, etc. Given the shakiness of the economy, there’s not a huge crackdown on special promotions or small sales, but it’s just not the same as the US where a visit to almost any store at almost any time of the year will include a well stocked sale rack.

While the UK isn’t as sales crazy as the US (where even the most minor holiday warrants a sale), it’s also not as tightly regulated as France. We’re not sure about Spain, but those are the kind of the subtle differences that could require more or different promotion. If you’re used to shopping in France, where truly good sales only come twice a year, then you’d absolutely want to tell your friends about a site offering 60-70% off on an every day basis. If you’re in the UK, where sales are more frequent and the local charity shop can turn up designer clothing at a discount price, the entire proposition might not be as exciting.

Though the UK is different from the US, it’s much closer than France. Granjon says the company isn’t giving up on the UK market, but we think they’d do well to give it a more forceful go in preparation for their upcoming launch with American Express.