Lady LUX

Yes, flash sale sites are still booming, and the shake-up continues. Paris-based Vente-Privée.com, known as the largest flash sale company around the globe, is likely launching a partnership with a U.S. business in hopes of becoming more of a contender in the American market.

The particulars have yet to be disclosed, but sources told WWD that Jacques-Antoine Granjon, the site’s CEO/co-founder, has plans to be in New York Thursday for the occasion.

Rumors are this new United States partner may be credit-card company American Express. Although it has yet to comment, the company intends to make a statement Thursday that it says will “impact the fashion industry.”

The litany of companies jumping on board the flash sale site train is impressive. Amazon.com just unveiled its new website Myhabit.com last week, and in February, Nordstrom acquired HauteLook for a cool $270 million (see previous LadyLUX articles on Amazon.com and HauteLook). The flash sale concept has also attracted a number of venture capitalists, including Gilt Groupe, which just raised its valuation to $1 billion, and Next World Capital, which helped finance ideeli Inc.

Gilt is growing quickly and is scheduled to expand into full-priced men’s and food sites.

“Our online male sales are three to four times bigger than Saks and five times bigger than Bloomingdale’s,” Kevin Ryan, Gilt’s founder and CEO, reported to WWD.

But Ryan is apparently unconcerned that the flash sale site market is getting crowded.

“The large companies like ourselves have a lot of revenues and a lot of traffic, and it’s going to be hard for the smaller companies to compete,” he said to WWD.

Adam Bernhard, CEO of HauteLook, finds the competition “great.”

“It continues to show that the consumer has chosen to shop this way,” he said. “Retailers are looking at this as a space that’s here to stay, and the brand community sees this as a legitimate brand distribution channel that it has to pay attention to on a regular basis.”

Bernhard reports the three top dogs in the flash sale arena pull in more than $1 billion in sales per year. The CEO believes the future of the industry lies in mobile innovation, and the company is thus launching a new iPad application in the next few months.

Flash sale sites, also known as private sales, give the customers a sense of hunting down that perfect piece, whereas members-only shoppers have to act fast to scoop up deals. Another variant on this theme is the daily deal sites, in which sites such as Groupon and LivingSocial offer great bargains on services in the local community.

“Flash sales are not a passing fad. It’s here to stay. Consumers have voted with their dollars. They like this way of shopping and [the concept] is working,” Tom Bernthal, CEO of Kelton Research, said.

He believes that flash sales are the “ultimate example of gamification,” as they attract customers, transforming the way they usually shop.

But it is still up in the air where the industry is headed.

“Flash sales provide a tremendous opportunity as a distribution channel, and the competition is starting to get hot. It started with a few players and now even eBay is considering development of its own flash model site,” Stephen Wyss, partner in the retail and consumer product practice at BDO USA, said.

Tagged in: flash sale, partnership, hautelook, partner, private sales, vente, gilt, privee, vente-privée,