CrowdSavings.com Acquires Bargain Bee and Expands into New Markets

Daily deal site CrowdSavings.com announced last week the acquisition of BargainBee.com, launching four new markets in Louisiana. All deals from the Bargain Bee market will now be available through the CrowdSavings platform.

When asked why Nicholas Fontenot, co-founder of Bargain Bee, started the company, he said, “When we started BargainBee there was nothing like it in the area or even the entire state. My business partner and I saw this concept working in other parts of the country and knew that something like this would do phenomenal here in the South. We decided that Baton Rouge should be our first city to launch and after its immediate success, we launched Lafayette, Lake Charles, and New Orleans shortly after.”

The site was built by Fontenot and a few programmers, so startup costs were fairly low to get the product off the ground. Fontenot and his business partner always kept in mind that this would be a two-year project for them. In those two years that Bargain Bee was in operation, they featured over 2,000 local businesses throughout Louisiana and Texas and saved their 200,000+ customers upwards of 10 million dollars.

Fontenot wanted to put his all into this project, in hopes that someone could take over after the two-year mark and further the successes of the company. His wish came true after meeting Jaquays and realizing the partnership was a great fit for everyone, including the loyal customers who will witness a seamless transition into the CrowdSavings site.

Fontenot and his business partner met Chad Jaquays, President and CEO of CrowdSavings, back in the fall of 2011. Jaquays was speaking on a panel at the Daily Deal Conference in Chicago when Fontenot thought it would be a good move to introduce himself. The next day, they went to lunch. The connection progressed and a few months later, Jaquays flew down south to meet some of the Bargain Bee team and discuss negotiations futher. Fontenot said it took eight months to finalize the deal between the companies. He said they are, “extremely excited about the extensive value that CrowdSavings will bring to our customers and loyal merchants in Louisiana,” and that the partnership is beneficial to both the Bargain Bee and CrowdSavings parties.

Nicholas Fontenot is now the Marketing Manager at CrowdSavings, which surely helps with the transition post acquisition. Bargain Bee was CrowdSavings’ 13th acquisition since 2009, and its third in the last month alone. The company plans to expand even further throughout 2012. They have a number of other acquisitions planned and are anticipating a revenue growth of around 400%.

“The team at BargainBee has done a tremendous job building a strong base of loyal merchants and customers throughout Louisiana,” says CrowdSavings Founder and CEO, Chad Jaquays. “We are also excited about the talented Account Executives from BargainBee that have joined our team in the last week. They bring a wealth of knowledge and experience from the area that will greatly benefit our sales staff.”