Rue La La & Gilt: Secret’s Out, Traffic’s Up
Written by Kristen Renda (contact - e-mail) -- January 12th, 2009 |
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Once reserved exclusively for those “in the know” and living in major fashion hubs, sample sales have now gone mainstream. Over the past year a number of online sample sale sites have popped up, such as, ruelala.com and gilt.com. Both Rue La La and Gilt Groupe operate using similar models – both are invitation only, meaning that you have to be invited by an already existing member to take part in the action. They feature premium designer clothes and accessories in private sale boutiques that are only open for a limited time. Members receive reminder emails when new sales are about to open –driving interest and visitors to the online boutiques before coveted items are sold out. Over the past year the word has clearly spread and the secret is out that these sites exist. This is evident from the chart below which shows that Unique Visitors to both sites have been steadily rising.
The increasing traffic to these sites show that in these times premium brand shoppers are looking for deals too, even if it is on a $300 pair of jeans. This becomes even more apparent if we look at the Daily Reach metric displayed in the chart below.
As you can see, Rue La La gets a major spike around the time of December 30th. At this time they were having a sale offering even larger than usual discounts which can account for the rush. For the most part Rue La La has continued to beat out Gilt Groupe but it will be interesting to see if they can remain on top as the space grows and competition increases.
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January 13th, 2009 at 1:45 am
If they’re gone up to 400k visitors in a years’ time, its not a small club anymore, is it? Sale offerings aside, maybe they’re offering something to existing members if they bring in new ones.
February 27th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Can anyone tell me why on the ruelala.com website, that whenever I go on, even at the second that they release the designer of the day, that many of the items at the end of the page are already sold out? Is this a tease or just to fill up space, or what? It frustrates me to see some of these items that I may have wanted, but are sold out the minute the site is open for sale.
March 26th, 2009 at 11:57 am
I have the same problem as terry f. Happens that when you put something in your cart they dont reserve it as Gilt does (for 10 minutes). I already complained and have done nothing to solve it
March 31st, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Invite me to these sites? jolieschwell@yahoo.com
April 8th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
thank you Renda, very nice article
April 10th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
nice job
April 10th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
thanks
April 12th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
very nice sharing
April 26th, 2009 at 10:29 am
I have been using these membership sites to find good deals on fashion that I can not otherwise find easily in San Diego. I use these 3 sites most and in this order. You can use these membership codes to gain access as well. happy shopping!
Gilt:
http://www.giltgroupe.com/invite/savemoneynow
RueLaLa:
Use this email to sign up - choppernoble@gmail.com
Ideeli:
http://www.ideeli.com/invite/savemoneynow
May 1st, 2009 at 7:56 pm
I love Rue La La! you can use ambergkelly@netscape.net as your invite if you want to join.
May 19th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
hi, msj 34 wonderful blog 34 share
May 30th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Rue La La has been a true customer service nightmare.
I placed the order on 5/8 for 2 watches for my twin sisters’ birthday. After waiting about 4 days and not seeing any progress on my order, I decided to cancel it because the watches wouldn’t be here on time. I emailed them and asked them to cancel my order. I was told that they would try to cancel it and that I’d be contacted within 24 hours.
After waiting over 24 hours I sent them another email. This time I was told that I’d be contacted within 3-5 days.
On 5/14, I received an email stating that my order was en route, but as I went to the UPS website to track the package, I realized that the sender had asked for the package to be sent back to them.
I emailed them to make sure that they would issue a refund to my card. I was told that it took them 7-10 business days to process the refund.
On 5/22, I got an email about a credit applied to my card for $399.00. My order total was 807.95, which included 2 watches @ $399.00 + shipping. I contacted them again on 5/25 to ask why the credit was only for one of the watches. They said that there was a processing time of 7-10 days for each item. I was also told that my case had been forwarded to the returns department and they’d contact me within 3-5 business days.
I then decided to call and talked to a supervisor. Like every other time I speak with someone at Rue La La, he said that it was somebody else’s responsibility and not his or his department. He said that this was now in the hands of the vendor.
There is no accountability. I didn’t hear anything like “I’ll take ownership of this and make sure that it’s resolved” or “I will follow up with the returns departments and I will call you back”. I didn’t even get an apology! All I got was “It’s not up to us”, “We’ve already contacted them and it’s all we can do.”
I still haven’t received the refund for the other watch or even an email with an update. I think I’ll have to dispute the charge with my card company.
Please be warned!!
June 1st, 2009 at 3:15 pm
If you want access to Rue La La or Ideeli, use hake0305@yahoo.com
June 8th, 2009 at 11:05 am
I can’t agree more with ZB. RueLaLa is truly a customer service nightmare - 5 months later I still don’t have a credit for a pair of shoes I returned. They are refusing to do anything about it at all. I would stay away and warn anyone dealing with this company that if anything goes wrong they are not a responsible company.
June 15th, 2009 at 11:09 am
I always have trouble signing in to ruelala when sales starts.
June 15th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Check out the AHJ article on Rue La La : http://www.alternativehealthjournal.com/article/rue_la_la__looking_good/3528
July 7th, 2009 at 8:22 am
Your graph was interesting but you forgot Hautelook.com. When I ran it with HauteLook, they seem to have the most momentum. And in my point if view they offer the best sales. S
July 11th, 2009 at 2:25 am
What an awful deal at ruelala. Had been a great customer and decided to return one item. The tracking showed they signed for it. Still no credit and many emails saying a supervisor will help. I am disputing the charge with credit card company since noone at ruelalawill help. I also reccomend filing with better business bureau against them for anyone, like myself, having return troubles. Their website misrepresents the timeline they complete returns and this is why the better business bureau exists. Good luck and warn anybody that gets invited to join that they are a fraud.
July 15th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Wow @no return, so aggressive to call a site that hundreds of thousands of people use every month a “fraud”. Sounds suspicious…… as a satisfied customer of all three (including returns) I will continue to highly recommend these sites as they provide a wonderful e-commerce channel. I agree with Scarlet they should include Hautelook because that site is picking up some immense steam, actually blew both Gilt and RueLaLa out of the water this month, and they just recently redid their site (I liked the side scrolling better though). I would assume many users are members to all three and just go to who has the better merchandise. What a fun race in the private sale space! Shop with confidence these sites are too popular and cool to be “frauds”.
July 27th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Buyer beware.
I too have had a return nightmare. I ordered two items with very misleading descriptions. Though I felt that the extremely small size of these items (copper cookware) should have been pointed out, it was my fault for buying online sight unseen and I took that in stride. I did return them, following the instructions. This is where the nightmare began.
It took months to get someone on the phone who wasn’t at a call center and had any information as to what was going on. It was my fault for using USPS not a more expensive service. It wasn’t RueLaLa that was lagging, it was Mauviel. No one would take any responsibility. The items were obviously sitting in pile of things in the warehouse. According to Veronica Ortiz, if I wrote a letter to the CEO she would receive it and respond to it so “I tell you what”, when you get a letter back with my signature don’t be surprised. I found her very rude, and told her so, she was clear that she was the only person I could talk to and it wasn’t her responsibility - because though I had to talk to her, it was Mauviel who couldn’t find it, not her.
She said no one else had ever had a problem, I was the first one, implying that obviously I was the one with the issue.
I understand that things get lost in big warehouses. But in my business, when a client sends something back to us and it can’t be found, we take every effort possible to make it clear that we are looking for the item, even if a partner vendor is involved.
August 20th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
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August 26th, 2009 at 9:00 am
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August 30th, 2009 at 8:35 am
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September 16th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
Has anyone discovered that the Gilt’s merchandise is fraudulent? In other words, copies of the designer merchandise and not as represented. If so, what did you do and what were results.
September 18th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Sign up to Ruelala HERE!!
http://www.ruelala.com/invite/taryn
Gilt; use the email adress ” purpledinosbomb@yahoo.com ” as your referral!!!
September 18th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
Hey if you want to join:
The Top Secret
Ruelala
Ideeli
Hautelook
or Gilt:
Use the referral email address ” purpledinosbomb@yahoo.com ” !
Ruelala
http://www.ruelala.com/invite/taryn
October 5th, 2009 at 1:39 am
Hello friends. Anyone who joins through the link below before October 10 will receive a $10 credit. No purchase required.
http://www.ruelala.com/invite/nonmember
November 7th, 2009 at 2:26 am
if you need a invite to gilt use this website
http://www.gilt.com/invite/bomilee
or email bomi.lee@tcu.edu
November 9th, 2009 at 10:25 am
I had a nightmare of a return with RueLaLa also!! I returned an item and never saw the credit on my account — it was a $249 item!! I kept being told it was a computer glitch… an IT error… they gave me a $10 credit for my troubles and someone would call me back. Nobody ever called me back. I repeatedly called them and they kept saying the same thing — computer glitch, someone will get back with you. I then went to dispute it with AmEx. The first dispute I opened with AmEx was denied after RueLaLa sent them copies of their internal screenshots showing I was credited. I re-opened the dispute and then sent in copies of all of my screenshots of my account as well as my receipt from UPS for the return package. After 7 more weeks, I received a call from AmEx. They asked me some questions and said they would call me right back. They called RueLaLa and the agent there was unwilling to participate in a 3 way call with me. They told the AmEx agent that they did credit me back and the AmEx agent challenged her and the RueLala woman got all rude on the AmEx agent. The AmEx agent said that if she was unwilling to work with them on it that something would be done. The RueLaLa agent said “so what?!”. AmEx agent called me back and said I would be credited back to my AmEx. I asked what happened and she told me all of the above.
RueLaLa may offer great prices on their items which are mostly discontinued by manufacturers, but they have terrible customer service!
November 10th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
i discovered a new website called ZabaChic, they have the best brands and the customer service is great.
http://www.zabachic.com
November 16th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
I have had a terrible experience with Hautelook. Their customer service is a nightmare. I ordered a dress on there only to be informed a week later it was out of stock. The people i spoke to were un apologetic and rude. they have some good sales but not worth the headache. I had to cancel my membership.
November 17th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Be warned…More and more I am beginning to agree Rue La La’s customer service is falling apart. When I first became a member I loved that I could confidently purchase an item, try it on in the comfort of my own home and return it if I needed to for a full refund (minus s/h). Seemed so simple.
*NOTE! Rue La La is a subdivision of Smartbargains.com This may help explain their purchasing power and the occasional “home” boutique.
When they changed their policy from “refunds” to “store credit” I understood. It was unfortunate, but understandable.
My customer service nightmare started when I purchased a set of Henckels knives on August 27th, 2009. See below.
Order Summary:
1. On 08/27/09 I placed an order for one Henckels Twin Pro S 18pc Cutlery set.
2. On 09/10/09 I emailed RLL to inquire why the item had not yet shipped.
3. On 09/14/09 I received an email from RLL confirming the item would ship via UPS.
4. On 09/21/09 the shipment arrived;
After inspecting each knife in the set I called Rue La La that same day to report that the 8” Chef’s knife was indeed “used”. Scratches, dents and FOOD particles appeared on the handle. I was told that Henckels was a vendor who could supply a replacement knife.
5. On 10/01/09 I received an email asking me to contact customer service so that the single knife could be replaced. When I called, the woman told me instead of a single knife I would be receiving a whole new set. I was told delivery could take up to two weeks.
6. On 11/4/09 (ONE FULL month later) I received an apologetic email. They would continue to research why the set was not sent and I would be contacted shortly…and for my patience, a $25 credit.
As of today, 11/16/09 I have not received a replacement set, a follow up email/phone call NOR a $25 credit.
Unfortunate, but it sounds like this is becoming the norm for other customers.