January 12, 2010
Inside the Gilt warehouse
Fashion lovers around the country eagerly wait for their daily e-mail from Gilt. The website, an online sample sale, caught fire in 2009. As the New Year starts, Bradford Shellhammer asks Gilt’s founders, Alexis Maybank and Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, a few questions.
Bradford Shellhammer: Where did the concept of Gilt start, and how long did it take to get off the ground?
Alexandra Wilkis Wilson: Alexis and I met while attending Harvard for our undergraduate degrees, and we were also classmates at Harvard when we pursued our M.B.A.’s. For years, we often discussed that we would like to create a business together; we were just unsure what it would be and when we would launch.
Years later, after graduate school, we decided we were ready to bring our complimentary fashion/ecommerce skills together in the form of a business. Alexis came from the e-commerce world, being one of the early employees at eBay (during her four-year-run there, she witnessed its growth from 40 employees to about 5,000), while I came from the luxury fashion world, with retail experiences at Louis Vuitton and Bulgari.
We would frequently meet each other in New York City and attend sample sales together, during which we would receive numerous calls from family and friends instructing us on items they would like us to buy on their behalf. It seemed natural to us that the sample-sale business model had strong potential to work online nationwide and our skill sets and drive were ideally suited. Gilt Groupe was launched on November 13, 2007.
B.S.: Does the product drop-ship from each label to the customer, or does Gilt buy and then sell the merchandise?
A.M.: We do not do drop ships direct from vendor to customer at this time. All orders are shipped from Gilt to the customer.
B.S.: How do you approach brands to partner with, and what do you look for in the brands you carry?
Alexandra Wilkis Wilson: We are regularly approached by brands hoping to be sold on Gilt, and we are continually looking for new partners that align with the Gilt ideals of bringing value and luxury to our members. We have a wonderful, collaborative environment with our brands, and we take great pride in the process of selecting items to sell on Gilt. Because of our relationships with the design community, we are able to select items from the designers’ collections that we know will sell best while keeping in touch with what our members will wear. Gilt Groupe also partnered with the CFDA in January 2008, which confirms that our products come straight from the designers, not from sale racks. We have sponsored a number of shows at New York Fashion Week to date, such as Phillip Lim, Alexander Wang, Rodarte, Richard Chai, Brian Reyes, Costello Tagliapietra, and so on — this is most definitely something we will continue to do in order to support such talented designers during these hard times.
B.S.: Your simple photos of the merchandise on the models are not fussy and are very effective. Who is responsible for the Gilt “look,” and was it intentional to be consistent with your images?
A.M.: It is absolutely intentional, and achieving the Gilt “look” is a collaborative effort between the marketing, merchandising, and styling teams. We want to keep the site chic and aesthetically engaging to give our customers a truly unique shopping experience, while respecting the brands’ identity and image.
B.S.: Are there brands yet to appear on Gilt that you really want to feature?
A.W.W.: There are so many brands and designers we love and would be honored to have on Gilt. Too many to list.
B.S.: You’ve launched a separate men’s line. Do men and women shop differently online?
A.M.: Men and women are very different in so many ways, one of the biggest being their shopping habits! We created Gilt Man just for guys, so they have their own section of the site that speaks just to them. Everything from the language to the imagery on the site is tough and masculine, and the sales are targeted more toward gear/gadgetry than couture.
B.S.: I, like many friends, have lost some items on Gilt that other shoppers had snapped up first! What labels or items have sold out the fastest?
A.W.W.: Dresses … dresses sell out so quickly on the site. We have had a dress sale consisting of thousands of units that had a 100 percent sell-through in just 45 minutes. We love the new “Gilt Countdown Clock” available for download now on Gilt.com, which ticks away the exact seconds to your next favorite designer sale.
B.S.: And for my own selfish reasons, when will I see Etro or Paul Smith on Gilt?
A.M.: We are working on it.
