If the old adage rings true — death comes in threes — who could be next? It was reported this week that Gilt Groupe – one of the original high-end flash sale sites — laid off about 10% of its staff, including Gilt City Director, Nate Richardson. Then word spread that staffers would be losing their jobs in Houston, San Diego, Philadelphia, Seattle, Dallas, and Atlanta. Following that bad news, the Kim Kardashian endorsed mega shoe shopping subscription site, Shoe Dazzle announced they would be closing the entire UK shopping division. As of now everything is marked down to 50% off on that side. This recent string of bad news for retailers begs the question: Are they fit to take us into a new generation of shopping?
Owning a business and maintaining a solid fan base is difficult regardless what the economic climate is, so watching big giants fall sends and ominous warning to competitors in the market. It’s safe to assume that Hautelook, Rue La La and Ideeli might be planning to restructure their game plans as well.
Then you have the recent Mints popping up everywhere. There’s been a Mint for everything under the sun (although I’ve yet to see a BreathMint :D ).
Now you can purchase jewelry at JewelMint, tee shirts at StyleMint, and an $80 pair of leopard booties at ShoeMint. Not a day goes by without news of sites with similar market base encouraging us to sign up and shop from them. Call me old school, but I miss the days of walking into the sore and buying what no one else has. It all began with the idea of shopping designer for less and now it seems that these retailers want to revamp the idea of shopping online as a whole.With the fall of certain websites, the question remains, can they consistently encourage customers to stick with the brand? I guess the answer is up to you. My prediction is people will give these flash sites a rest. In the years to come free-standing boutique shopping will thrive again. Most of these websites were birth with the business module of having a curated personal touch, but with so much going on at once I think a lot of companies lost that.
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