Kembrel launches Facebook sales app

Credit the founders of Kembrel.com for giving students another reason to procrastinate this fall.

According to CEO Cherif Habib, “now you can use Facebook to shop, and not just to keep tabs on your ex-boyfriend.” Touted as the industry’s first private sales store that can be accessed entirely through Facebook, the application launched in late August following a successful trial period.

Habib says the amount of time students spend on social networking websites every day was a major factor in the decision to launch Kembrel on Facebook.

Open exclusively to students, the website caters to the college demographic, offering brands such as American Apparel and electronics that appeal to a tech-savvy generation.

Valerie Muvdi, Wharton MBA alumna and women’s buyer for the company, describes the company and its approach to social networking as innovative and predicts that Kembrel will remain at the forefront of technology.

This sentiment is echoed by Wharton sophomore Nick Schneider, who briefly served as a marketing consultant for the company before its official launch. Schneider stressed the importance of using social networking sites to market the website.

Seeing his input come to fruition was a rewarding experience for Schneider. “There is no better feeling than putting ideas into reality and seeing all of your hard work come together for a finished project,” he said.

Student input continues to play a huge role in both the business and creativity aspects of the company. With only three full-time employees, the company relies on student volunteers to carry out such diverse tasks as marketing and modeling.

Habib believes this to be a fair opportunity, citing the difficulty of finding an internship without prior experience.

The practice of employing student volunteers is referred to as “community building” on Kembrel along with social e-commerce, which Habib describes as meaning the advertisement opportunities that arise with the rapid spread of information inherent in social networking.

Whether or not Kembrel will be successful in this venture remains to be seen.

College sophomore Amy Aw frequently shops online, subscribing to such similar websites as Ruelala.com and Gilt.com. Though she is familiar with the website and is generally impressed with the selection thus far, Aw is hesitant to buy from Kembrel because of its lack of reputation. For now, she is more likely to buy from more established websites.

Habib remains hopeful for his company’s future, believing the company’s launch on Facebook to be crucial. “I believe that the future of e-commerce is social, and since we’re serving students, we believe that being on Facebook is a really big deal,” he said.

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