Zulily

Zulily, LLC is an American e-commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, that sells clothing, footwear, toys, and home products.

Zulily, LLC
Subsidiary
IndustryInternet, online retailing
FoundedDecember 10, 2009 (2009-12-10)[1]
FoundersDarrell Cavens
Mark Vadon
Headquarters
Seattle, Washington
,
U.S.
Area served
North America, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland[2]
Key people
Jeff Yurcisin (CEO)
Mark Vadon (Chairman)[3]
ProductsChildren's and Women's Apparel, Toys, Infant gear, and Home Decor.[4][5]
ServicesFlash sale notifications
Revenue$366 million (August 5, 2016)[2]
−$10.33 million (Year ended December 30, 2012)[2]
ParentQurate Retail Group
Websitezulily.com

History

Zulily was founded in 2009 by former Blue Nile executives Mark Vadon and Darrell Cavens[6] after Vadon's wife had become pregnant and he was overwhelmed by the supplies they were not aware of needing. Zulily went live on January 27, 2010 with an initial focus on children's apparel. By the fourth quarter of 2010, Zulily was a cash-flow-positive business.[7]

When Zulily went public in November 2013, the company had 2.6 million active customers and $331 million in revenue.[7] Its initial public offering valued the company at $2.6 billion.[8]

In August 2015, Zulily was purchased by Liberty Interactive's QVC division for $2.4 billion.[9][10] In September 2017, Zulily launched Private Label Credit Card.[11]

Business model

Zulily's target audience is mothers who have an interest in unique brands and products for their children; their audience has also been described as "young, tech-savvy mothers".[6] Sales change daily, starting from 6 a.m. Pacific time, and they hold no inventory.[12] In 2014, half of Zulily's orders came from mobile devices.[5] Sales generally last 72 hours.[13]

In 2015, it decreased the number of flash sales, in response to some customers who were overwhelmed by the amount of merchandise from which to select.[14] Retaining customers is a challenge for it: "the flash-sale website is straining to hold on to customers and realizing it may have inundated shoppers with too many deals".[14] Although revenue was up 29% in the first quarter of 2015 compared to the prior year, that was less of a huge increase than the 52% shown for the last quarter of 2014 compared to one year earlier, leading the company to lower its estimate of anticipated revenues in 2015.[14]

Although the web site for the company says they hold no inventory, in 2015 they began to hold some merchandise in warehouses to shorten the time for delivery. The lack of inventory has caused quality control issues including defective merchandise, damaged merchandise, incorrect or incomplete products being sent to customers. The company will issue refunds for shipping paid on the damaged, defective or incorrect merchandise if it was the only item bought, or it will replace the item for free (emailing photos of the issue is helpful). The company is including some established brands in addition to the emerging brands on which it had completely relied.[14]

References
  1. "zulily.com WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info - DomainTools". WHOIS. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  2. "Form S-1/A Amendment #4". Securities and Exchange Commission. November 13, 2013. Retrieved November 19, 2013.
  3. "About Us: Our Team". zulily. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
  4. "About Us". zulily. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
  5. Cook, John (November 4, 2014). "zulily posts revenue of $285 million, tops 4.5M active customers in Q3 as half of North American sales come from mobile". GeekWire. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  6. Parkhurst, Emily (August 28, 2015). "Behind the QVC deal: zulily leadership built decade-long relationship that led to $2.4B acquisition". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved August 28, 2015.
  7. "The Billion-Dollar E-commerce Company You Know Nothing About". Fast Company. February 6, 2015. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
  8. González, Ángel (February 21, 2014). "zulily: Hot site for moms hits a moment of truth | Business & Technology". The Seattle Times. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
  9. Gottfried, Miriam (August 17, 2015). "zulily Is Lost Up the Amazon With Latest Deal". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 18, 2015. (subscription required)
  10. Vasan, Paula. "QVC owner to buy Zulily shopping site for $2.4 billion". CNET. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
  11. "zulily Launches Private Label Credit Card - Retail TouchPoints". Retrieved October 12, 2017.
  12. "How zulily works". zulily. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  13. "zulily FAQ: How long do events last?". zulily. Retrieved August 18, 2015. Most events last 72 hours—then they move along to make room for something new! Occasionally events will be extended.
  14. Ng, Serena (May 5, 2015). "zulily Cuts Its Revenue Forecast". The Wall Street Journal. (subscription required)

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