

Gilt Groupe Valued At $1 Billion  - boh
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703730804576313330486181732.html

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showerst
"In addition, its core discount-fashion business is coming under pressure from
the recovery in the luxury business."

Interesting, I hadn't thought of gilt as being counter-cyclical until now, but
it definitely makes sense.

I wonder how companies like they and wine.woot will survive once luxury brands
aren't hurting so much. Will they keep these deep discounts around to build
buzz, or cut the cord?

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strmpnk
From what I've heard from the company, the merchandizing for the fashion
business has been under pressure for quite some time. Their early growth was
mostly limited by having goods on hand. Now the lack of product distinction
and lower margins are making it a tricky business to run.

Personally, it was a great concept that's been successful many times, but I do
find this valuation a bit too close to something like "round up to the nearest
billion" to make sense. Further, they've wasted a lot of time lining up their
technology to make the new product sites work well and internationally (i.e.
serving up in Japan was a mess organizationally). It's quite silly to see them
posture like this but I guess it comes with their ridiculous attitude over
there.

