Zulily, founded in 2010 by Blue Nile executives Darrell Cavens and Mark Vadon, is an American flash sales website for children’s and women’s apparel and accessories, toys, infant gear, and home decor. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Zulily currently has a market cap of $4.65 billion and is one of the fastest growing companies in the United States. The online retailer operates through two markets, North American and the United Kingdom and has seen extreme growth over recent years due to a number of different factors relating to e-commerce basics. The company’s sales have gone from almost nothing to a projected $1.21 billion this year alone and is continuing to grow and expand. Below are five reasons why Zulily is driving so much growth.
5. Flash Sales
Flash sales are what Zulily’s business model is based on. These deal of the day sales, or “events” as Zulily calls them, is a model in which the online retailer offers a single product for sale over a period of 24 to 72 hours. Zulily claims that “shopping here is like opening a new treasure chest every day” and prompts customers to shop early for the widest selection and to check back every day, driving both sales and online traffic.
4. Let Customers Discover New Things
Zulily is built around its members discovering new products from new brands they can’t find anywhere else. According to the company, a number of Zulily customers often aren’t searching for any one particular product upon visiting the site. Many members simply browse, and due to the fact that Zulily’s selection changes on a daily basis, it lets them discover new things and continue coming back for more.
3. Email
Zuliy’s marketing dollars are aimed mainly at getting email subscribers signed up on the site and working hard to keep them buying over time. Repeat customers get emails whenever the company’s computer programming determines that the latest round of the site’s merchandise will be of interest to that particular customer. Such a personalized approach has led to 50 percent of Zulily’s 4.1 million customers coming back to make a second purchase.
2. Spend Less, Make More
Rather than spending the majority of its money on one aspect of advertising, Zulily spreads out its marketing dollars across a number of different channels. During the second quarter of 2014, Zulily spent 36 percent of its marketing budget on display ads, 24 percent on social media ads, 23 percent on search engine optimization (much less than its competitors), 10 percent on television, and seven percent on other channels.
1. Build a Loyal Specialty Audience
Seeing as Zulily is centered around members discovering new products and the idea that customers aren’t searching for one particular item, the site has learned to create specialized categories that only Zulily can truly offer. The company has learned to compete with its competitors by building a loyalty audience in specialty categories. For example, Zulily might not be able to beat Amazon’s brand name prices, but it can offer stunning prices on unique accessories to go with those products.
Photo by www.zulily.com
