Private Sales
The Holy Grail of Ecommerce:
Impulse purchases
Viral word of mouth
Rapid revenue growth
Private Sales is the selling of branded merchandise in timed events at a discount, on an invite-only website. Leaders vente-privee, Gilt Groupe, Rue La La (client) and 36Boutiques (client) are being followed by eBay, Neiman Marcus and Saks. All brands and retailers should consider a Private Sales model. Check out the video to the right for an example of a Multi-Channel Private Sales approach.
Key Features
Cart reservation — Items sell out between placement in cart and checkout. A reservation is needed to maintain client satisfaction.
Auto-scaling — Shoppers need to be trained to come to the site at the same time, leading to massive spikes in traffic.
Viral loyalty program — Provide loyalty points to 1 customer based on the purchases of those that she invited.
Benefits
- Rapid revenue growth — Gilt Groupe went from 0-$400 million in 3 years; vente-privee went from 0-$1 billion in revenue in 6 years.
- Extremely attractive financials, such as low customer acquisition cost due to viral invitations.
