About us
Sokoz is a privately funded startup with offices in Luxembourg and Paris. Founded in 2007 after an inspiring visit to the Amsterdam flower auction, Sokoz aspires to change the way people shop online by offering something more exciting, interactive and fun.
What we like
Diversity and inspiration
Sokoz features a selection of products and services across the following categories:
Electronics / Sports & Outdoors / Home & Garden / Toys, Children & Baby / Food & Wine / Leisure Activities / Hotels, Flights & Travel Packages
Sokoz is a diversified source of daily inspiration. You won't find everything on Sokoz but you will find intriguing selection at competitive prices.
Excitement and Empowerment
Sokoz Live Auctions are very fast, creating an exciting and competitive shopping experience over a short period of time. We understand that our customers lead busy lives; our goal is to provide the best shopping experience possible in as little time as possible. Best of all, You choose Your Price.
Sharing and Community
Sokoz is to online shopping what "flash mobs" are to communities. A way to get together and have fun where everything you do impacts other users. We have plenty of ideas down our sleeves so we hope you will stay tuned for more!
Sokoz Live Auctions
What exactly is a Sokoz Live Auction?
It is a descending auction that lasts only a few seconds. During the auction the price of the item continues to drop until it either sells out or the reserve price has been reached. In short, a Sokoz Live Auction is bit of excitement, a bit of competition and a lot fun.
What it's not
Pay-per-bid, penny auctions, all-pay auctions, etc...
Sokoz is entirely free to use. The only thing you will ever pay for is the product you bid on, at the price you chose. Seriously, who wants to pay for stuff in the other guy's shopping cart anyway?
The team
Tanguy Lesselin - Founder & CEO
Tanguy is a former strategy consultant (The Boston Consulting Group) and serial Internet entrepreneur. He co-founded and was Managing Director at Tekora.com, a web content management software company. He then went on to form CV Premium, the leading French resume writing service. He is an occasional speaker on entrepreneurship, and has a passion for offshore sailing.
Pascal Lahannier - Chief Architect and co-founder
Pascal was the first software engineer at Business Objects (now worldwide leader in Business Intelligence, acquired by SAP). Pascal developed the first Business Object version for Windows and became Chief Architect after the IPO on the Nasdaq. Pascal co-founded Sokoz after several major Software architect roles (Leornard's Logic, Hummingbird, Physical Networks).
Alain Rouen - R&D and IT Manager
Alain was CTO at Vanksen Group (a leading Internet communication group) and has managed the development and maintenance of several large Internet applications. Alain is an expert in IT systems and networks. As a member of the Agile Alliance, he is also an agile methods supporter, especially Scrum.
Bob Tornquist - Product Manager
Bob has 11 years of experience in ecommerce much of which focused on the development, implementation and support of 3rd party selling platforms. During his 6 years at Amazon he participated in the launch of Amazon's 3rd party selling platform in the US. This led him to Luxembourg to support its launch in Europe and eventually to London where he launched several new product categories at Amazon UK. Bob is an ecommerce expert in several key markets. Bob is an avid skier and used to play football (American), wrestling...You may joke with him... a bit ;).
Gregory Jost - Marketing Manager
Greg has extensive experience in Internet marketing, social networks, and ecommerce. Previous roles include Country Manager France and ecommerce & Marketing Manager at Last.fm in London (a leading social music platform). Greg is French, but "sooo British".
Charline Dal Molin - Community Manager
Charline was a Buzz Marketing project manager at Vanksen Group. She managed blogger campaigns and community relationships for brands in France and Italy. Besides being incredibly patient and nice to the Sokoz community, Charline can tell you why blue and purple are the best matching colors (see the Sokoz blog design).
Jany-Roberto Marimoutou - Category Manager Physical Goods
Jany has more than 9 years in ecommerce, with 5 years at Price Minister, a leading B2C platform in France, where he successfully developed several product categories as a senior Category Manager. Jany is a lover of all things high-tech, video games and movie fan, and used to be a Paris by night guy, a bit less so since joining Sokoz which has had a surprisingly positive impact on his golf game.
Charles-Louis Machuron - Category Manager Travel & Leisure
Charles-Louis started as a Product Manager with SmartBox, an innovative distribution company specialized in leisure activities and gifts. He then moved to Montréal to launch SmartBox in Canada and the US before joining Sokoz. Charles-Louis is the lucky guy who gets to tryout the services that end-up in the Sokoz Live Auctions (like a balloon trip over the Chateau of Chenonceau).