The locally focussed ideas roundly symbolized the Groupon concept, which launched in the fall of 2008. Groupon went on to trigger a third wave of live shopping frenzy after the “one deal per day Woot!” concept and private sales clubs such as Vente-Privée.
The feminine take on live shopping has been well implemented by the Daily Grommet (‘fresh finds, true stories’) which has been online since October 2008.
Last April, the female founders received their first large financing round of $3.4 million, in part due to their vision of revolutionizing retail with their sales model:
"I went on to explain my vision to disrupt how consumer products (that form 65% of our economy) get discovered and distributed.The investor later said it gave him chills and that it was the best moment of the meeting. His sharing that personal response made me all the more confident to frame the vision as big as I see it."
In comparison to Groupon, the launch of the Daily Grommet gave a rather tentative impression. However in due course they have found their own style and are growing - in particular from an ever increasing product base as well as their explanatory video presentations. The latter can best be described as a mix of Martha Stewart and QVC.
Although the new daily products are presented in the foreground, the sales method is not nearly as aggressive as it should be for a live shopping model (and for how aggressive their goals were).
Motivational elements such as counters, limited availability, etc are entirely missing. Instead, the founders are betting completely on the strength of the stories behind the products. Early in the year, the Daily Grommet labelled themselves as the “Birthplace of Citizen Commerce”.
In terms of revenue, the founders continue to have big ambitions:
“We are going to be a failure if we don’t become a $100M company in relatively short order.”Noteworthy reads are the interviews from their early days. At that time (about a year ago), their plan was:
"By introducing 250 new products per year and selling just $100,000 worth of each product, each vertical could bring in $25 million per year in gross revenues, she projects.The plan for Grommet’s growth, Pieri says, is to build on the success of the original site by creating “verticals,” business-speak for topic-specific offerings, such as “Grommet Gear,” “Grommet Food,” “Grommet Garden,” and the like (the company has 12 product categories in mind altogether, Pieri says."
Although the Daily Grommet still needs to drive their sales more, it is otherwise still an outstanding example of how live shopping can look like. Useful to see are the background reports, typical of the Daily Grommet videos.
Related posts:
- Scoopon: Catch of the Day Not Resting On Their Laurels
- Woot! Insights from the Live Shopping Days 2010 Conference
- Vente-Privée Cleans Up At The Media Momentum Awards 2010
