Getting Creative at Fashion Week: Ideeli's Flash Sale/Runway Show Synergy
Here's something you don't see every day: a flash-sale retailer cozying up to a fashion show. But that's exactly what ideeli, the popular high-speed purveyor of high style (without the high price) is doing with its sponsorship of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week (MBFW) in NYC. I know what you're thinking: aren't flash sales supposed to shill last season's threads? Yes, but I had an exchange with ideeli's CEO Paul Hurley who tells me they've come up with an elegant way to tie the two together.
First (for those of you who don't shop), here's what you need to know about the company. ideeli burst onto the e-commerce scene four years ago and managed to snag an impressive amount of investment. It scored $3.8 million in capital from Kodiak Ventures in 2007 and raised another $20 million two years later.
One little retailer and how it grew
No doubt investors looked favorably on the retailer's growth. Hurley tells me that in the last 12 months, membership more than tripled and site visits were up more than 150 percent. For perspective, TechCrunch reported the site hit one million members and was on track to do $50 million in revenue in 2009, but Hurley expected that to increase to $175 million in revenue last year.
Hurley says hooking up with Fashion Week will help ideeli establish new relationships with designers and strengthen its existing designer/brand relations as well as give its nearly 4 million members virtual access to Lincoln Center. While ideeli's buying team takes in the shows, Hurley says its members will get "their own front row experience by shopping ideeli's curated Fashion Week designer sales, following moment-by-moment runway updates on Twitter (@ideeli) and participating in special MBFW features and events on Facebook."
Though it will take a good five months before the runway collections will be available at retail, ideeli's assortment will be taken from existing designer collections. Hurley notes:
Each sale event will be timed to go live on the same day the designers are showing at Lincoln Center. By featuring must-have looks and favorite picks from both existing and past collections, members will have immediate â€" and affordable â€" access to such featured designers as Nicole Miller, Betsey Johnson, ADAM, Adrienne Vittadini and more.
Of course, the end goal is to maximize sales but Hurley says he's got his eye on two prizes:
First and foremost, to provide a fun and engaging way for our members to experience fashion week. Second, to reinforce to our brand partners ideeli's commitment to being a powerful and creative retail partner in the fashion industry.
Stay tuned for more dispatches from Fashion Week about how the industry is getting creative to reach more consumers.
Image via ideeli.com
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